Cry of the Raiju
by kotei no seiryuu
Summary: basically Naruto during his 2 year training came across a Raijuu, giving him a bloodline that would shake the foundations of the shinobi nations, guiding Naruto to bring peace to the lands. Slight Greay, smart, Powerful naruto. Grey-later good Kurama. Slight Naruxmei mostly Naruxfu. minor Civillian, Kakashi, Sakura and Sasuke bashing.
1. Chapter 1

**I do not own Naruto in anyway, the manga and majority of the characters in it are owned by Kishimoto**

**This Fanfiction is written by Kitsunedragon and myself, with the help of Lanky Nathan.**

**Alright people so I believe I had told you that this story was to be the surprise that me and Kitsunedragon are currently working on as a project. It will be a team attempt. Most of you will understand that school is coming up so part of our wrting for any of our stories will be delayed, but it will be in our best effort to upload our stories including this one as much as we can.**

**So far it is an honor of mine to be working with not just one of my favorites, but one of your favorites as well. Having some back up help from Lanky Nathan will be even a greater support for this story and I will just have to say that it is a privilege to work with both.**

**So let's begin the chapter**

**Chapter one: Meeting of Shinobi and Thunder Beast**

**(Naruto PoV)**

**Raijū, **better known as the_ "thunder beast", _it is a legendary creature from Japanese Mythology. Its body is composed of lightning. It can manipulate its form into a form of any animal, may be in the shape of a cat, fox, weasel or wolf. The form of a white and blue wolf (or even a wolf wrapped in lightning) is also common. It may also fly about as a ball of lightning (in fact, the creature may be an attempt to explain the phenomenon of lightning.) Its cry sounds like thunder, it's power rivaled by few. It's movement is as fast as lightning, thus claiming the title _'Lightning Rider'._

Raiju is the companion of Raijin, the god of lightning. While the beast is generally calm and harmless, during thunderstorms, it becomes agitated and leaps about in trees, fields, and even buildings, trees that have been struck by lightning are said to have been scratched by Raiju's claws and storms follow wherever the beast has been and come with great force whenever it is close by.

Another of Raiju's peculiar behaviors is sleeping in human navels. This prompts Raiden to shoot lightning arrows at Raiju to wake the creature up, and thus harms the person in whose belly the deity is resting. Superstitious people therefore often sleep on their stomachs during bad weather.

A Raiju was probably my favorite mythical creature to begin with, at least ever since I could remember Sarutobi-JiJi told me many stories of Raiju. I believed in all the tales of the lightning spirit, even all the stupid superstitions, it just seemed like the type of companion I would want. Not the annoying fox that's sealed within me like some rat in a cage. Before some wanted to become shinobi, we always wanted to become something else or wanted something non-realistic. Girls had their little unicorns or ponies, guys wanted to be super heroes. I just believe in old legends and wish to see them first hand, not false fantasies and annoying childish dreams.

I had wanted to become the greatest shinobi, the strongest of the Hokage before my time. I had that opportunity, though that was a rough road. I was never a favorite of many of the villagers, some of the ninja in a place I'm _supposed to call home. _I was treated with such discrimination due to fear of what I cannot control in life. The lack of attention or aid from my ninja instructors, which led me to fail three times for lack of help, the feeling of not being unwanted and loved, the obnoxious teacher who denied my training and the two teammates who I thought were my friends, end up degrading me for my somewhat false stupidity. Part of me blames it on the fourth Hokage for all my short comings; even though he was my hero above all else, I couldn't be mad at him. He was doing this for the sake of the village, the home of the people he had loved, for the risk of using a child. Me.

Where do I begin, oh right, I'm Naruto Uzumaki, I'm currently fourteen years old on a two year training trip with the legendary Jiraiya the Sannin. Though don't let the title deceive you, he's a damn lecherous pervert who wants to do his Kami damn research more than train me. Though I can't say I can complain about it, he has been helping me hone on my skills that I already have. Though it's not enough, I need to exceed my skills beyond what I have now, I need to get stronger to bring Sasuke-Teme so I can stop hearing the childish nagging of Sakura if she hasn't matured by now. I need to out beat any of my enemies.

The fact of the matter is I am progressing by so little amounts than what I should have. I may never have the opportunity to strive and become stronger than what I am now. Strength is the only thing that will help me protect those who are precious to me, even if it means I have to use that Fox's chakra.

Thankfully I don't need to, after all, not after today that is. The power of a thunder beast in my hand, the thunder beast within calling for the storm to come once more.

**(Third Person POV)**

_**The shores of Mizu no Kuni, near the islands of Uzu no Kuni**_

Naruto, to say the least wasn't the brightest of the bunch to many people, though the fact remained he was an intelligent shinobi to deceive his fellow comrades as such. As the ninja code quotes _'Look underneath the underneath.' _It had been almost a year along with his two and half year trip with Jiraiya, not say that it had been interesting to say the least, but the pervert did have his annoying research at hand. It was early spring when Naruto left **Konohagakure **and he and Jiraiya had been in **Mizu No Kuni **for about two months. Thank god for the war to be over because if the two were still here if that were the case, shit would have hit the fan.

Jiraiya had trained him earlier today, more so on chakra control and his Taijutsu than anything. Jiraiya style of fighting though was..complicated for Naruto to learn, the blonde took some traits of the older generation's brawling style, though Naruto felt it wasn't an all needed necessity in his skill set. The blonde jinchurriki thought well that the toad sage had other styles of fighting that he could surely learn unless he thought that it was the most compatible hand to hand combat style.

Naruto could have asked, but the Sennin probably wouldn't have paid no mind, after all where was he now? Local bar? Water springs during the winter? No, the old man was at a brothel in town while he was stuck in the hotel room near the ocean. It was almost as bad as Kakashi's excuses of being late or making excuses to not train him and train Sasuke instead. Naruto gritted his teeth slightly as he closed his eyes and sighed with anger dwelling in his mind.

Anger was not necessary, ever since Jiraiya messed with his seal, tweaking per say, he developed an irregular aggression. The desire to hurt things whenever something aggravated him just a bit, it would cause a minor chakra leak of Kyuubi's chakra. That is another reason why he kept his façade, to push away the negativity and go to the _happy go lucky _part of himself. Naruto couldn't deny that subconsciously, he was just letting the anger build up, it was wanting to explode. Which was why even after his training with Jiraiya ended and the man left to do some of his business, be it fun or personal, Naruto would do his own kind of training. This was one of those times to do so.

Naruto walked out of the room from the back door which lead to a small trail that headed toward the shoreline. The walkway was sandy with a mixture of soft earth, but the view of the shoreline was superb as it was soft sand and a cold breeze had gently passed through the blonde's hair. That water was coming in small waves. Gently moving from the cold breeze on the light cloudy day.

Naruto took in the cold air and exhaled it out with ease. He slipped out his shinobi sandals, orange and blue jacket and his white T-shirt, folding his upper body wear, and placed it on top of his sandals. He walked barefoot onto the sand feeling the rough texture onto his feet as he wandered across the place. He was halfway near the water now.

The blonde clapped his hands together gathering chakra around his body as a large quantity of chakra surrounded his body, pushing back slightly. Best thing before training on his own personal routine was a simple stretch of limbs and relaxing his chakra levels. Once he was done he would begin his work on his Taijutsu.

Being said that his Taijutsu needed work was an understatement, it was somewhat sloppy in some aspects. He didn't know any other actual tactics than the simple **Kage Bunshin **to cause a diversion to the enemy in order to think of tactic or just use simple brute force through most of his fights. He knew he wasn't as good compared to Lee, Neji, or even Sasuke. Though he needed something in his grasp to have some even ground on any of them no matter how strong they had gotten. He had tried from the academy style to Jiraiya's style of fighting, from even using a combination of the styles (which none had turned out to be much help in any case).

After what seemed like twenty minutes he stood in the same place with his head down. He closed his fist with some anger dwelling in his mind, how could he not learn a simple fighting style? It should be easy for him if he wanted to learn or make one on his own!

He growled angrily, a **Rasengan **forming into his hands as he slammed the sphere of chakra into the sandy ground, causing the rotation to burrow deeper into the earth. By the time the jutsu had died down, the blonde Uzumaki had formed a crater seven feet deep and about six feet in diameter. He stood back up from the crater and scoffed.

"What the hell am I doing wrong.." he muttered to himself, his eyes dimmed from all the happiness and indulged in apathy. "I defeat Neji with luck, I beat Gaara, and I almost beat the living hell out of Sasuke..so why do I feel so behind!"

The realization came to him in the end when he had mentioned Sasuke, the only fight in which he was almost killed twice, the only fight that had was to be determined through what he thought was the bonds of friendship and the hate that Sasuke held for his brother. Naruto wasn't at the level in which he could beat Sasuke during the early stages of the fight, first the curse mark, then the **Chidori **impaling his shoulder. It was the fight in which he pushed himself to use the Kyuubi chakra than he had ever done before until a few months ago, pushing him to become more of an animal than when he was just using a small portion of it.

Unlike the times with Neji and Gaara in which he had control and could feel his chakra replenished. He was enraged, filled with anger, but pushing to the extent that he had succumbed to the one tailed state. It was powerful controlling that feeling, though even fighting like an animal with it, he had speed and strength. It made him curious.

He searched deep within his subconscious, entering what looked like a large room that possess pipes above the ceiling. The floor held water leaking about a a foot in length and in front of Naruto was two red barred doors similar to what had looked like a jail cell. In the middle of it was a small sheet that held the symbol for _'seal' _on the cage doors. The sound of deep breathing had emanated through this room, it was cold, it had bared a great sense of evil that had been ancient. Within the cage, in it's darkness opened a set of crimson red eyes that bore the hatred of all beings in the earth, one that had as too existed for what seemed like millennia.

"**Ah..so my jailer comes to greet me in such…a distance" **A voice that had sounded like death came from within it's own throat. **"Why don't you release me from my cell..I've been a good prisoner haven't I, I think I deserve some..kill time" **a set of sharp canines glistened in the dark as red chakra emanated over the beings body. Foul, poisonous and deadly it leaked out slightly as it lit the cell up, showing what looked like a fox that held orange fur and nine tails by its side.

Naruto narrowed his eyes as he stared at the beast and frowned "As much as you feel like that reward is so deserving I'm gonna have to pass on that, can't let you screw with my mind after all" he said walked closer to the cage, though not close enough to where the demonic fox could claw at him like last time. "Though checking on you is always a good thing. I don't need anything reckless to happen to me while you'rr inside me Kyuubi." He told the tailed beast.

"**How sweet, so you think about me?" **the beast said sarcastically as his narrowed at the blonde shinobi.** "I wouldn't give two shits about you if I weren't in this cage, you'd be my next meal. Though as long as I am in this cage I am to make sure your mortal body does not die, because if you die I won't reform." **He gave a low growl,** "So why did you come here, it's not to taunt me with that stupid old persona of yours."**

Kyuubi was right about that, he had been watching his jailer from when he was a child to becoming a shinobi, to even now. He knew as a child that Naruto was smart, smart enough to know a lot of things though they never were given to him. Then he built that dumb idea in his head to be stupid and get everyone's attention when that personally screwed up his mind and built up Kyuubi's annoyance of the boy even more. Now after that loss and the lack of training he could see the young boy that wanted that strength, knowledge, and acceptance that he was powerful.

Naruto sighed softly as sapphire eyes focused on crimson, "I wanted to know if you knew a specific fighting style. My body doesn't seem to respond to the right Taijutsu that Ero-sennin is giving me." He said

"**You think, the fool is a brawler his fighting style is personally his own because of his size and build. Your not going to become anything like his size and build because you have me inside you fool."**Kyyubi said as the fox shifted his body to look directly at Naruto. **"From what I've seen from your little..training that you found a small hint on what seems your good for. You are built for speed, your body will grow, but your mass will most likely remain a lean build due to your metabolism burning off most your fat off your body. However, you also have quite formidable strength even without my influence."**

_**'Only because of that heritage of your boy…your damn mother had a knack for her strength aside her clan sealing arts' **_he thought attentively

Naruto's eyes had raised up slightly, "So..if you know what my build is, does that mean you know a style specifically for me?" he asked

"**Perhaps…through my days of being unsealed I have come across some who have fighting arts you are looking for, even one of the animal that I have come to be." **His eyes narrowed, **"However..what makes you think I will do such things and give you something when you have not proven your worth to me. You have not come to strike some deal with me or even come to be a decent shinobi with your foolish behaviour of chasing after that annoying hormonal pink haired girl and that detestable U**_**chiha**_**." **he said with loathing in his voice.

"You should be able to help me if you want me to become strong" the jinchurriki's eyes glared at the fox as he heard the term _deal_ ringing in his ears, somehow Naruto didn't like that at all. "What would you want?" he muttered lowly.

Kyuubi looked at the boy intensively before saying his demand, **"I want you to kill the remaining Uchiha members..including that fool you call a friend."**

Naruto's eyes widened in shock, was the fox serious, did he not realize the promise he kept to Sakura, his ninja way? The countless repercussions that would lead to a negative impact on him? Even while some of the villagers have changes and even some of the civilian council have done so, a good sum of the villagers still praised the Uchiha clan, envied their strength, but pitied for the boy. Then his friends would think of him differently wouldn't they?

"You're crazy!" Naruto yelled as he stomped his foot into the water "You think I would kill Sasuke just for a deal that you can give me what I am looking for!?"

"**It's either that or keep being stupid and follow your stupid goal, with a perverse teacher who wants to watch women in the tub and go to brothels and write some good smut, see a girl who doesn't love you go to the brat who has all the fame, then see your dream of being a foolish Hokage to never happen." **The Kyuubi growled, **"This is reality boy and I'm always serious, if you don't take the deal then something better be interesting to me enough for whatever happens to you so I change my mind."**

Naruto looked at Kyuubi for a moment, his eyes were not the same blue, they were cold, chilling to the core. It struck a slight nerve at Kyuubi, that feeling only happened twice in the fox's lifetime. The first was when he had become a separate being, meeting the Rikkudo Sennin, all the hatred he had from his true form had want to kill the human sage that was known as the _god of shinobi, _but that hatred was calmed when seeing those eyes of the first jinchurriki. The second was of the one who had possessed the cursed eyes, the sharingan, Madara Uchiha. The boy may not have noticed it at all..but he emanated power as of right now.

"Never.." the word came out of the boys mouth as he continued to stare at the strongest being that the boy will ever possibly lay eyes on, no hit of fear in his voice. "Call my dream..my goals..or myself stupid, I will become the strongest and I will surpass the previous hokage, I will bring Sasuke back even if I have to paralyze his entire body by snapping his spine or breaking each bone in his body. With my power of the power that I use that people have given me." He said coldly.

Kyuubi narrowed his eyes as he arched up and huffed through his nose, his eyes slightly rose up as he sensed something outside. He had sensed it somewhat earlier, but it faded, but was coming back now with a strength that was most impressive even to his standards. It's chakra levels were on the level of that of Saiken, better known as Rokubi.

"**Ningen, before you get your panties in a wad go see what is going on outside. Something is out there with a strong level of chakra" **The fox said.

Naruto was confused for a moment, but he could hear the sounds of thunder hitting his ears like there was a voice calling him out. It caused him to lose his focus with his subconscious connection with the fox and see what was going on outside in the shoreline, something he had not expected.

XxXxXxX

Waves of water were blasting around at twenty feet in height, dying down just a few meters away from Naruto, winds were at high levels and the clouds were dark with the sounds of thunder coming about with little sparks appearing at an unnatural form within the cloud line.

Naruto took a few steps back from the water and looked up at the dark sky. How did it come to be like this so fast, his conversation felt like no more than ten minutes atleat with the fox and as soon as he hears the thunder he sees all of this come in place. He could see shrouds of lightning moving around in the clouds in a supernatural way, streaking from one place to another in each cloud as if it was alive.

Naruto slightly moved up a little, curious at the movements of lightning as the single element move around. He looked around a little more and noticed that it had not appeared from the clouds, yet the storm still occurred. The lightning streak didn't disappear though, it had come down with great speeds, mere seconds towards Naruto. The blonde had not time to react, the speed of the element was far beyond the time he could avoid it. After all, lightning moves at the speed of one-hundreth of a second and it would be a miracle if anyone could avoid the strike of nature's sword, the lightning bolt. In that instant the lightning struck his body enveloping him in a blinding light that ascended up into the dark clouds.

All Naruto could see was light, there was no pain and slowly he could feel his conscious being pulled deep into his mind. _'Is this the way I am meant to die…?_' was the only thought he had before reaching into the deep depths.

XxXxXxX

Coming out of a brothel a tall man with waist-length, spiky white hair tied back into a pony tail, with two shoulder-length bangs that framed both sides of his face. He also had red lines that ran down from his eyes and wore a horned forehead protector with the kanji for _'Oil' _. He also had a noticeable wart on the right side of his nose. wore a green short shirt kimono and matching pants; under which he wore mesh armour that showed out of the sleeves and legs of his outfit. His outfit was completed with hand guards, a simple black belt, traditional Japanese geta , a red haori with two simple yellow circles on each side, and a scroll on his back.

Many had called by names he is well renowned as, Gama- Sennin, one legendary Sannin, famous writer, teacher of the Yondaime Hokage, but above all else he was the super pervert; Jiraiya.

Of course in his books there was always such creative and passionate…well manly desires that men succumb to and even women. Sometimes doing a little peep show here and there wasn't enough, so he would just head to the brothel to do his _research. _All in all for him it was a win-win situation, he got the next idea for his books and he got laid. Not bad of a life being a legendary renowned ninja. Of course he had other things to do as well, he had to train Naruto for another year and a eight months before he brought the boy home. Otherwise Tsunade would kill him if Naruto wasn't home by now, as well get killed by her knowing that he didn't fully train him to some extent.

The sage sighed softly as he scratched the back of his head, things were somewhat complicated now as of late. Naruto was somewhat…distant, after the first four months when he loosened the boys seal in order to get more of the Kyuubi's chakra and control it. Aftermath of that event; three weeks put in the hospital and an extra week wearing a splint on his broken arm. Being a ninja had it's perks of healing, but the whole fight still hurt like hell. At one part not trying to hurt the kid at the same time attempting to subdue the beast's chakra. The four tailed state, the second stage of a jinchurriki's transformation was a frightening sight.

Through these months Jiraiya had helped Naruto gain a good amount of his chakra control completed, making a new form of the rasengan and the knack to dispel Genjutsu of low to high levels. He was impressed by the way he could tell there was a Genjutsu casted, though it would take a second for him to actually notice the higher level ones. The sage always reprimanded Naruto, telling him a second is what can change the moment of battle, from keeping you alive to seeing that you are killed. This would get Naruto a little agitated by the criticism, but in the end he would try to get better.

'_I swear, he's got that nasty temper of his mother's just waiting to come out and kill me.' T_he middle aged man thought, to be honest the boy had much more of his mother's personality when he had first met him, having her face as well with hints of baby fat on them. While his energetic ways had diminished somewhat, he could see his father's own personality mixing in with his own and his mothers. Making him something more different.

Jiraiya had been focused on his former student, Minato was always a prodigy, coming out of the academy fresh at the age of ten, becoming chunin a little after a year. dating Kushina at the age of thirteen, secretly marrying her at the age of eighteen, having Naruto with Kushina when he was twenty one just after claiming the title of Yondaime Hokage, giving it up just as he sacrificed his life in order to keep the village safe from the wild Kyuubi, sealing it within his own son.

He knew well enough that Kushina was the previous host for the Kyuubi no Yoko, Sarutobi Hiruzen, his teacher and former hokage that had passed much almost two years ago had told him once he had met Kushina when she was young. For what had happened to cause her seal to break and release Kyuubi was something out of the ordinary. He had known Kushina well enough to realize that she held a strong will that was enough to hold even death itself, it was her nature as being who she was and from being from the once powerful Uzumaki Clan from Uzu no Kuni. If it wasn't that her will had gave up, it was from the fact that someone had intervened.

It was one of many reasons that he had not been in the village after nearly twelve years. Gathering information of Orochimaru, the orginaztion known as the Akatsuki, just as much to get any theories on what event had occurred that caused the Kyuubi to be released to which he had many hunches. Though he had just one other reason, one that made him feel guilty for more than a decade.

That reason was Naruto.

The boy had so much traits of both his parents that he couldn't bare to watch the boy, take care of him like he was meant to do. The student who was like a son to him, the couple who named him the godfather of their soon to be child to ensure that the man would always partake in the child's life in hope of better or worse situations. It was obviously clear that he wasn't there for anything, not seeing that he had proper care, treated well by the people, seeing him in his starting days in the academy, not giving him any training during his days in school, not seeing him graduate, not even seeing him for his birthday.

The man had screwed up as godfather, he had only hoped he could repent for that mistake and make amends by teaching the boy, though that wasn't going well as it is now either.

'_His Ninjutsu is his somewhat strong point, but his level of doing hand signs are almost abysmal and he relies too much on those damn shadow clones of him. I try to help him with what Taijutsu I know, but it doesn't seem like he's naturally set for my style of fighting. I need to work on those two the most before I could properly teach him anything else.' _he thought, the idea of fuinjutsu crossed his mind as well, the boy was an Uzumaki, perhaps his genius in seals could be around the older ma'ns own or even greater.

"Perhaps I will teach him that next, after his skills have increased with his Ninjutsu and Taijutsu." The white haired shinobi smirked, he would have to put his writing on hold for a couple months, but it will be worth it in the end after all the training with receive to improve his main skill sets before going into the sealing arts.

The rumbling in the sky could be heard from Jiraiya's ears as he looked up as he gave a quizzical grunt as he looked at the sky. He was somewhat surprised at this occurrence, there was little to no clouds in the ocean and now there was a storm brooding in the sky all black and ominous. Though what was curious was the lightning moving around in such an unusual way, it streamed across the clouds like it was alive in someway and came down as more of a ball of light that was spiraling down than a normal lightning bolt. The sound of it cracking down on the earth, the sound of thunder had echoed into town getting the attention out of everyone one, shop keepers, civilians, ninja in the area and even the great ninja himself.

The sound had quickly died down a light surged up into the sky into the clouds. Jiraiya took a few steps and stared at the light in shock before he looked into the direction the light was in. His eyes had stayed on the area and paused, it was just two miles away, where the hotel he and Naruto was at. He ran toward the direction as small beads of sweat dripped on his face the was filled with worry. He felt something had happened to his student, something entirely different than just Kyuubi or Akatsuki, but he felt like he was dead on in the subject.

'Naruto, you better not be dead, otherwise I'll have more than just Tsunade to worry about.' he thought as he hoped to make it in time before it was too late.

XxXxXxX

White, all there was in Naruto's sight was just white, he couldn't tell if he was alive nor dead. He felt though that he was still alive, just stagnant, somewhere in his mind after being pulled in so abruptly. He could hear the drops of the sewer within his mind drip as it hit the water. Though he could hear a vibrant sensation, the sound of ringing like vacuum of sorts. He could hear the low growl of the Kyuubi grow louder as it casted out the light had died out, the view now becoming what seemed like was now the sewer tunnels.

For a moment he walked around until he saw a flashing blue light at the left corner, then hearing the infuriating roar of Kyuubi along with the banging of bars as it was attempting to do attack from what Naruto could tell. Naruto as cautious as he was of whatever was making the tailed beast infuriated.

Curiosity taking over him he walked over to the left corner and took a glimpse on what was within the layer of the Kyuubi, his eyes widened to see a ball of blue light crack light lightning sparks from it. The sphere had pulsed slightly as it gave a slight ringing sound with the pulse as if it was countering the beasts roar with it's own. Naruto had walked inside and quietly observed the ball of light and walked closer to it. Once about a couple feet from it the blonde slowly had raised his hand up to touch it before a slight bang from Kyuubi's bars caused him to flinch and look at the red-orange furred fox.

"**Don't touch that ball Naruto, otherwise you'll just get fried by that Raiju's current form." **the Kyuubi said as he snarled and looked at the ball of lightning.

Naruto took a step back as he heard the words, _'A Raiju?' _he thought in confusion until he heard another voice echo in the room.

"**Hmph, as if I would want to waste my time shocking him, it's against my code of honor." **the voice was calmer than Kyuubi's malevolent voice, but it held a sense of power just as the beast in the cage. **"Even so, I wouldn't have come in such a fashionable way, instead I would have just gone my way." **the voice told Kyuubi

"**Then you should have gone your way you annoying creature, you know well enough that you Raiju aren't worth my time unless you have a death wish!" **he growled as his razor sharp claws dug through the cage attempting the reach the ball. **"Now leave!"**

**"As long as you are within your cage I think I am safe to say I can be in here without causing your host a major headache"** the Raiju said as he chuckled, getting a roar back from Kyuubi in return.

"Um…" Naruto spat out breaking the tension of the situation as he heard a hum in question from the ball of lightning. "You're a…Raiju?" he asked questionably to the being within the lightning sphere.

"**Of course I am, this is just one of my forms" **The voice said as the sphere had began to change morphing into a bodily form. The form was slightly hunched and one two feet about seven , but eight feet tall upright, once the light died down the features were more clearer to view what the being was now. The creature bore antlers on it's hair similar to a deer's, but were differently structured. The mass was bulky, built lean yet at the same time was more muscle mass than anything. The Raiju had white fur with black stripes on its back, arms and hind legs like a tiger, but bore near similar features to that of a canine, almost like a fox or wolf. It's teeth were pure white and as sharp as it's claws and its eyes were pure blue similar to its long white hairy mane that fell from its head. **"I believe my hybrid form shall suffice."**

Naruto stared at the being, it radiated energy around it's body white and pure as it screamed out power. He had heard stories from Sandaime when he was little, the tales of Raijin's companion, the beast who was as fast as lightning, as such, was known as the lightning rider. To see one in person, was such an honor, but a joy for him.

"H-how did you..?" Naruto stuttered out as he blinked in surprise as he was at a loss of words.

"**How did I get I here?" **the legendary creature finished Naruto's words, **"well it's not surprising, you were just struck by a oncoming ball of lightning outside of here. I just enveloped you and went inside your seal is all...I was curious about you so I wanted to see what was in this little head of yours." **He said as he looked at the blonde, **"I guess I am be surprised, if I had known you held a being such as this inside you I would have just probably just let you be. Especially with this one" **the fox like creature said as he narrowed his eyes at Kyuubi.

Naruto was confused at first when he had brought up something such as a being like Kyuubi. Was there a connection of sort in this or was there a sort of familiarity. Though the though stopped within his mind when he had heard the beast, "So, I guess since you've seen him your gonna leave like that huh?" he muttered to the diety.

The Raiju looked at Naruto and hunched dowrn to match the boy's hieght, **"Not exactly" **His pure blue eyes stared at Naruto for the longest time. **"Your lineage…more so you yourself interest me boy. Your nature as a Jinchurriki is somewhat opposite to those before you from the other Jinchurriki…and your chakra signature that brought me here, it seems to bring out some familiarity to us old ones." **He said softly.

Naruto looked at the beast as he paused, "Jin..churriki?" he paused as he looked at him. "What in Kami's name is a Jinchurriki, I'm smart, but not everything was taught about something like that in the academy..as well I wasn't quite treated fairly as you know.." Naruto said, as knowledgeable as he was in fighting now and smart about shinobi art and history, his knowledge was still limited. He couldn't get books or scrolls from the library until he became a fully legalized ninja and even then some of the stuff he still couldn't touch.

The Raiju sweat dropped as he grimaced, **"Sorry..tend to forget about certain things, after reading your memories I should have known you might have not known that." **in it's current form the bipedal creature sat down cross-legged and stared at the young blonde. **"A Jinchurriki is what the old shinobi and current ones call a person who was the human sacrifice to become the host of a demon as they call them. These demons are known as Bijuu or tailed beasts." **He pressed his finger on the water with shot up in the into a medium sized sphere. In that sphere showed the beasts, **"Bijuu, are beasts of pure chakra in form, their supply of energy is limitless, ranks from one to nine by the number of tails they have. The more tails they have the higher of chakra they have."**

Nsruto stared out, letting all the information soak into his head as he slowly turned a looked at Kyuubi for a moment who simply glared in return. "So Kyuubi…is what you would call a Bijuu, how many of them are there?" He asked.

"**Overall nine, that beast behind you holds himself as not just the one with the most chakra, but as the strongest as well, rivaling five of his kin in both power and strength combined. While we immortal beings aren't to fond of the Bijuu we know their power, while some of us are on level to some, hardly none of us can defeat a being such as him even if half of his chakra is gone." **he looked up at the beast,**"When your previous Hokage had sealed the beast in you, he sealed half into the Shinigami, because the beast held too much chakra to be sealed into your new born body as well as it being impossible to seal it entirely within the shinigami, he would simply reform once more into the world within a certain time, be it days or years."**

"So wait, what you're telling me is that even if I die, he'll still come back!" he said angrily and pointed at the red fox behind him, "What's the point of sealing them inside a person when no matter what they will come back. That would mean that we are nothing more than just people who just ostracized from the other human population, a ticking time bomb waiting to explode!"

"**Calm yourself boy, otherwise your mouth will be shot off your face" **the Raiju said in a commanding tone, quickly shutting the blonde up. The thunder beast stared at the boy with tiresome eyes and shook his head. **"I understand your reasoning, I truly do. A bijuu is made up of living chakra, to reform will simply be its chakra's nature. the idea of humanity holding these beasts was a mistake. Though at the same time it was choice made for the best for these creatures were born from hate, a darkness not just man feared, but the gods themselves, sealing them in humans a risky price, though at the same time is a benefit for all."**

"How so?" Naruto asked.

The mythological creature gave a toothy grin, **"It keeps stability for humanity, a sense of peace with no destruction caused by these chakra monsters. You gain the abilities through the beast within you, then finally the beast can tame himself unless their will is strong, thus it will be your job to be its tamer..its ally." **He said.

Naruto stared upon the great deity with wide eyes, a mistake that was for the good of all mankind, Something that would benefit both the shinobi nations who hold a jinchurriki as well as the jinchurriki and bijuu themselves with risks. The shinobi and jinchurriki get power, though the shinobi worry for the jinchurriki's sanity, as well as to ensure their safety for if they die or lose control, the beast will come out. For the bijuu, the price of being sealed in order to become calm. For once Naruto could understand something, the price of power has consequences.

"I understand" his voice came out softly as he closed his eyes, "But..why, why not just befriend the Bijuu if that was the case, make an ally of one in order to have peace for all nations, as well as to ensure protection. From what I can tell…people see Jinchurriki as the beast themselves and the tailed beast are monster of mysterious origin, but I can tell they are intelligent. I mean-I have one inside me, so why not just befriend them?" he asked.

Both the Raiju and Kyuubi bore wide eyes at hearing Naruto's words as they looked at the boy. A boy had made such a simple question about the thought, the ideal of making peace with both the other nations of ninja, as well as the tailed beast. The Raiju thought for a moment before he spoke once more.

"**Simple, human's fear what they do not understand. It is a human logic to think that way towards anything that is irregular to the world. Bijuu are beasts that hold limitless chakra that is hundreds to thousands of times the amount a normal Jonin level ninja holds. Yet very little humans hold knowledge of what they truly are, just believing them to be nothing more than mindless animals when in truth they are smart. Ancient as the few remaining gods in this world." **the beast closed his eyes **"There was a time they understood, it was a time of great fear and darkness within the world. Remember what I told you of the time in which it was a fearful time with not just man, but the gods as well. It was caused by a powerful entity…an entity that had gone by many names before it became..**_**different beings**_**."**

Naruto was about to ask, but he had received a low growl from Kyuubi's end which silent him, he sighed softly as he looked back at Kyuubi and then back at the Raiju. "So aside from this, why did you come here, you said my chakra was familiar to you but how?"

"**Ah yes, the reason why I truly came here… well when I felt that spike it caught my eye, it was so familiar to one who was just like you. In fact, you could say he was a lot like you in most ways, you and your beast share much ties with him both distant and very old. A savior to the human race." **He pinted one of his large fingers, his sharp claw pressing at the blonde's chest. **"Which is why I have a gift for you..I would like to give you what you ninja call a Kekkei Genkai of sorts."**

Naruto froze for a moment as he heard the two words, his eyes brightened up light stars as he moved around the thunder beast with amazement and excitement at heart. "Really, you going to give me one will it be better than the sharing an, or the thing that Haku had, oh oh! Please let it be better than Neji's byakugan! " he said loudly before he got whacked on the head by the beasts large fist.

"**Are you insane you nimrod of an immortal?! Do you not realize the consequences for giving him a Kekkei Genkai!" **the Kyuubi roared out, **"Have you not seen his memory of his reputation, he'll be a pathway of walking destruction with his pranks, he'll be worse than even Matatabi with her **_**special time**_**! It would be easier to just let me out!"**

"**I doubt he will do that if he wants this gift, this power is meant for him to make a path through peace. I have my faith in this boy, just as you had cared for your former caretaker Kyuubi..or better yet should I say" **The Raiju grinned,** "Kurama."**

"**How dare you say that name, only those who are worthy may call me that!" **he yelled as he rammed his claws into the cage.

"**Just as you have no right to judge the boy so quickly without even giving him a chance to see the potential he has." **He grabbed the boy by the back of his jacket and looked at him dead straight in the eye.**"Now…it will be nothing like the Sharingan nor will it be a dojutsu, though I will tell you this, this power will exceed even what kages could do, things that even I can do possibly, it just matters on how you use your power and what for. It will grow with you as you grow and it grows more as your heart grows."**

Naruto wiggled around from the Raiju's grip and was quickly released flipping a couple feet away and landing on his feet. "I'm ready for it then if that's the case" he pumped his fist, but stopped before he looked at the fox like being. "Before we start..I have a question."

"**And that would be?" **the lightning being asked calmly.

"Do you…have a name?" Naruto asked as he puzzled, "I mean it would be kind of awkward just calling you Raiju all the time so I figured you might have a name is all."

There was a long silence from the two as Naruto gave a quizzical brow of curiosity and slight worry. A low chuckle came from the being's throat as pure blue eyes stared at Naruto, **"I haven't been asked that in a long time by anyone.." **His divine chakra channeled through his body as he was preparing to release the power towards Naruto, merging some of the power in the boys body to give him a bloodline. **"Kamina..that is my name." **Kamina said

"Kamina...cool name." Naruto repeated as he grinned. "Well lay it on me!"

The raiju smirked as his energy burst out, the divine chakra hit Naruto like a wrecking ball, keeping him immobilized as the pressure of the chakra started to chanel through his chakra stream into his core. The pipes in his mind had glowed a Azure blue color as they grew brighter. The pain was excruciating, but it slowly calmed down, the pressure quickly subsiding had began to swirl around his mental body the chakra coating it into a form like no other.

Kamina was almost complete, the transfer of the bloodline was about to end as he prepared to withdraw his chakra until it came to a stop.

_**'What?' **_he thought as his chakra was being pulled in once more, Naruto's body itself was changing as it was enshrouded, bursting with Azure light, taking in Kamina's chakra. _**'This is impossible, his chakra is drawing in my own like a magnet!' **_Kamina had no other choice but to cancel out the chakra transfer to a complete stop. The sudden stop cause an explosion of chakra to blast through the outside and inside of Naruto's mindscape, blinding both Kurama and Kamina.

Kurama's eyes winced as he took a notice at Naruto's figure, shroud his body was covered in an azure shroud of chakra, a shining white colour outlining said shroud. He also gained a necklace of magatama around his neck. His hair spiked up, with the two endmost locks resembling horns. The shroud split down the middle and opened up into a cloak that had a tattered appearance. The previously smaller 'horns' grew out larger, and his whisker marks became thicker, more feral like. Underneath the 'coat', the magatama were still visible and he gained a new set around the 'collar' of the coat. He gained seals on his hands and feet.

"_**Rikkudo-jiji?" **_the demon fox muttered out to himself as the chakra blew outward a little longer, until it died down as well with the light. Naruto's form was clear as day, newly produced , powerful in it's grasp. Kurama could only stare at the resemblance of the young blonde and the old sage that he had once knew. For just a brief second, the hate that bore within him for those year, died.

Narto had opened his eyes, azure blue with vertical slit pupils, like that of Kurama's. He stared at the chakra shroud in amazement as he looked at it. "Amazing.." he muttered softly, then looked in front of him to see Kamina panting heavily. "Are you alright?" he asked somewhat worried.

"**Yes..just a little exhausted, I was only meaning to give you a small amount of chakra, but your chakra was attracted to mine..I think you took about forty percent of it, quite a big nasty chunk." **he said chuckling as he looked at him, **"I suppose you might not need to work yourself all the way to gain that form, but I would advise you to not use it unless necessary. Your body is coping with the chakra in your system still as well as the adjustments on your body, I'll have to help you train yourself on how to use that bloodline of yours, all of it's powers, to the form your in now."**

"Wait" Naruto cut in before he pointed at Kamina, "Y-you mean your staying?"

"Would you prefer to not know what the hell you're doing and learn by yourself? It could take you many years to get you to where you want to be and with me it could be vastly shorter." Kamina said as he narrowed his eyes.

"Didn't say anything about you leaving, just.. Will you and Kurama start fight?" he asked.

"**I don't intend on making your brain mush boy…so that's a now unless it's necessary" **the Raiju could sense someone coming, **"Someone is coming Naruto, I suggest you leave this place, but before you do, suppress your chakra, your like a beacon for danger out there." **He said.

Naruto nodded as he turned to leave until he felt Kyuubi's, now Kurama's, claw hit his forehead. His eyes widened as memories had began to flash into his head. Something he would have never expect as he was seeing two styles of fighting, a style in which was near similar to a fox's nature, the other nearly similar to that of a dragon in flight. The memories had ceased as Kyuubi's claw removed itself from Naruto's forehead, leaving the dazed blonde confused.

Once his mind had become clear, Naruto could feel a sensation information and memory of fighting, two fighting styles. "What.?"

"_**Yasei no Kitsune-ken **_**and **_**Hiryuu-ken**_**, ancient art in which were lost many years ago." **The Yoko said as his eyes furrowed, **"Do not think I like you Uzumaki Naruto, I loathe your being, but your life has become interesting and for amusing me I gave you knowledge in return."**

Naruto looked at the fox with widened eyes and smiled softly, "Thanks Kurama" he said before getting a growl in return.

"**You are not worthy of saying my name boy." **He said in a threatening tone, of course the boy wasn't ready, at least not yet, until he had proven himself to the fox that he was the one the old sage had mentioned.**"Now..leave!" **his booming voice blasting the boys mental body out of him mind and into the living world.

XxXxXxX

Naruto's eyes widened as he stare up at the sky, which was no longer dark and cloudy, but a serene clear blue sky. He looked at his hands for a moment seeing that the shroud was not just on him in his mental state, but his physical as well. He could hear rustling come from nearby and he quickly panicked for a moment. Quickly he had concentrated in suppressing the chakra until it died down inside of him.

The rustling came once more as he turned to see Jiraiya on his way coming towards him. Naruto held a bead of sweat on his forehead, hoping that the man didn't see what had happen.

"Naruto, are you alright!" the sage said as he walked up to the boy, "I saw a lightning strike and then a big light ascending to the sky. I was hoping that it wasn't you in any of the crossfire."

Naruto internally was relieved that the hermit didn't notice anything after that. Though the next thing on his mind was what to tell him, explain to him about what had happened.

"**It would be unwise to tell him anything about my existence or your..power yet..wait until everything is settled down for awhile until you get into your training with him and with myself." **Kamina said as his voice died down.

"Um, I didn't see anything" Naruto lied, "I woke up just about fifteen minutes ago and I decided to do some training after I washed up." It was hard to lie to Jiraiya, even if the man wasn't fully participant with his training, the man was still his teacher, better than Kakashi to say the least.

He had gotten a stare down from Jiraiya, making himself focused to ensure there was no sort of deceit in his eyes. Once he heard Jiraiya sigh, it was all in the okay zone after that.

"Alright, at least nothing bad had happened to you gaki. If anything did, Tsunade would bury me in my own grave" He turned to walk away, "Get your clothes on and pack up..were going to Uzu no Kuni for a couple months training, then making a couple stops to Kirigakure and Suna, then we head for Taki for our last spot in training. " He said before disappearing into the trail.

Naruto was confused at all the major stops they were going to, but shrugged them off as he grabbed his things and headed into the trail as well. _'Which reminds me…what is my bloodline?' _he thought

"**I haven't noticed until now, but as I can see it is one of the finest abilities so far. The abilities to manipulate the elements in a storm, such as lightning and wind without consuming chakra. That shroud is what takes your power beyond the limits in your normal state. " **Kamina said **"You would be able to manipulate a natural element and absorb it into your body for replenishment or as an offensive type. Same with elemental attacks from shinobi who hold the same elements the ones for a storm"**

"So basically I'm a walking storn" Naruto stated as he smiled, "Freaking sweet Dattebayo!"

**"Indeed.."** Kamina said as he paused, **"Though..what will you name it?"**

Naruto puzzled as he thought for a moment, a fox-like grin appeared on his face as he said two words. "Raiju Arc!"

**End**

**Au: this chapter was written by yours truly, the next one will be written by Kitsunedragon. For those who haven't read any of our other stories I would hope that you all do in the future if this story interests you, our other stories would interest you as well in my opinion.**

**For the chakra shroud, it's basically a customized style I thought of based after Naruto's Bijuu Mode. I wanted him to have that connection with the Rikkudo-Sennin to more than just being prophesized, to the idea that his chakra signature (be it in a spiritual sense) is similar to the Rikkudo's which is why the divine chakra was so attracted to it.**

**Raiju Arc, as some of my readers know is a magic art from my other story Jinchurriki of the Apocalypse. In this it's the same, but at the same time completely different, Naruto can absorb storm elements within his body to regain chakra he lost, that way he won't need to rely on Kurama half the time. He can make his own styles with the bloodline, attacks, defense or support for him. Basically it's based for Nin-Taijutsu and as well as the separate arts. With this bloodline he'll have near perfect control of elemental manipulation, meaning he can make a weapon out of an element, be it a sword or shuriken etc.**

**You'll get details on Yasei no Kitsune Ken and Hiryuu-ken late**

**Well I hope you guys review a lot, it helps both me and Kitsune to both improve our writing, keeping our writing going faster and to make you guy's happy.**

**XxDivinedragonxX**

**Kitsunedragon**

**REVIEW!**


	2. Chapter 2

**I do not own Naruto in anyway, the manga and majority of the characters in it are owned by Kishimoto**

**This Fanfiction is written by Kitsunedragon and myself, with the help of Lanky Nathan.**

**Hey guys, Kitsunedragon here with your next chapter. Guess it's my turn huh? Well like XxheavendragonxX said, he and I are collaborating with Lanky Nathan to make this little project of ours. Though the response was kinda low, but due to the fact that it's a new story with a new kind of background that other authors haven't gone into ever before, it's to be expected. We are aware that there will be a few grammatical and spelling errors here and there, but we will do what we can to lower them or make those errors non-existent. So we apologize for that. Also, I would like to apologize in advance for the long waiting times you guys will have before we update. It's just that we have other stories to work on so Cry of the Raiju will be rather slow in terms of updating speed.**

**Now here we go guys, chapter two done by me, Kitsunedragon.**

**So let's begin the chapter**

**Chapter Two: A Storm is Brewing**

Naruto and Jiraya walked through the town's streets towards the harbour platforms in order to rent a boat that will take them to the homeland that is Uzushiogakure no Sato.

Naruto glanced upwards and scowled, covering his eyes with his hand, as he aimed to block out the harsh rays of the sun. It was unnaturally hot today and it showed from the fact that many of the town's populace were fanning themselves or guzzling down water in the way Naruto would chow down on his beloved ramen.

"Oi, Ero-Sennin, why are we walking here through the town? Why can't we just run on the rooftops to get to the harbour?" Naruto asked. Jiraya turned back to glance at his disciple.

"Naruto, it is best to keep a low profile here seeing as how we are in an area of the Elemental Nations where shinobi tend to be rather scarce. Also, I don't want to take any chances with the fact that even though the Akatsuki have paused in their activities, they may still be wanting to keep an eye on you. Us performing shinobi acts might ruin our chances to avoid being detected by the Akatsuki as well as making a big spectacle of ourselves should we do so and if they are watching us, they may want to attack and you are not strong enough to take them on yet." The white haired sage explained. Naruto frowned. His sensei's reason and logic did make sense as there was no telling what the Akatsuki were planning, even with Jiraya's spy network doing what it could to keep an eye on the organization.

Naruto's hands clenched into fists as the images of Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame appeared in his mind. It was the image from when the two Nuke-nin had first arrived to take him for the Kyuubi that resided within him. He was practically useless when Kisame had Samehada take his chakra and there was nothing he could have done to stop the two powerful shinobi if Jiraya hadn't shown up when he did to stop them.

'I have to become stronger...and I will.' Naruto thought, determination flashing across his face. However, the determination was soon replaced with annoyance when the sunlight assaulted his eyes.

'Ugh...wait Kamina said Raiju Arc could allow me to manipulate elements of the storm. Maybe I could make a cloud cover or something to block out the sun.' Naruto smirked as he aimed to draw on the abilities of the thunder beast, but suddenly he felt a tugging at the back of his mind. He blinked and he found himself within his sewer-like mindscape standing before the dragon-like beast and the crimson furred kitsune.

"Huh? What the...Kamina, Kurama?"

**"I would advise against you using Raiju Arc, Naruto." **Kamina spoke, his form letting loose random sparks of lightning as he did so. The red eyed kitsune snarled, his tails swishing back and forth in a wild manner.

**"And I would advise you not use my real name without my consent to do so. My true name is a name given to me by my creator and I will not have some idiotic monkey such as you utter it from your lips. My name is to only be spoken by those who have earned my respect and you...Uzumaki...have not done so. You are to refer to me by my title and my title alone. I am the Kyuubi no Yoko, most powerful of all the bijuu and I suggest you refer to me as such until I have deemed you worthy of earning my respect else I flood your system with my chakra and burn your entire chakra network."**

Naruto and Kamina stared in shock at the malevolent tone the bijuu had used in response to Naruto's usage of his actual name. True, the beast was a being of pure malice and contempt with a mixture of pride, but the anger that came about by Kurama seemed different to the one that Naruto usually felt when meeting with the demonic kitsune.

"You seem rather against my using your real name. But what is the point of my knowing your true name if I can't even use it?" Naruto asked. The nine tailed fox snarled at its jinchuriki before slamming its claws against the bars of the cage that held it back.

**"If it weren't for this damned seal I would have your head, Uzumaki. The point is that my true name is reserved for those who I have come to respect and I will NOT have some pitiful HUMAN such as you utter it."** Kurama roared. Naruto stared into the crimson iris of his bijuu. The blonde then broke out into his trademark foxy grin.

"Well then Kyuubi, guess I'll have to work hard to earn your respect then." The response caught both thunder beast and bijuu off guard.

**"Wh-What?!" **Kurama exclaimed. Naruto chuckled.

"I can see how much your true name means to you. After all they say the eyes are the window to the soul and you seem very prideful of your true name, so I will comply with your request and earn your respect. After all, I did say that if I can't say your true name...then what is the point in me knowing it." Naruto said. Kurama and Kamina looked at each other and then back at the blonde.

Kurama growled, but an amused smirk found its way to his face. **"I will enjoy watching you struggle to achieve that, gaki." **Kurama then turned and headed back into the darkness of his cage to take a nap. As the fox did so, the Raiju turned to look at Naruto.

**"You really are an interesting individual, Naruto Uzumaki." **

"Hehe, maybe so...but I enjoy being challenged. I've gone up against impossible odds before, like when I learned the Rasengan and I've come out on top all the same. Besides...if I do this I can go down as one of the first jinchuriki to befriend their bijuu." Naruto grinned, earning a chuckle from the thunder beast. Kamina nodded before Naruto spoke once more.

"So why did you say you were against my using the Raiju Arc just to make simple cloud cover?" Naruto asked. Kamina cleared his throat before speaking.

**"Yes well you see Naruto, you have only just received my powers yesterday. The powers of a Raiju, your Raiju Arc as you have dubbed it, combines the powers of wind and lightning to give you the ability to command the elements of the storm. True, you may be able to draw upon them and use them...but you are still inexperienced. Lightning and Wind are two of the most unpredictable elements in all of nature and in chakra as well. These elements combined can make an even more haphazard result if you choose to perform Raiju Arc and you may end up hurting yourself or the people around you, like the civilian populace you are now walking through with your sensei. As a result, I suggest you train in Raiju Arc when you arrive at this Uzu no Kuni that your sensei spoke of." **Kamina explained. Naruto blinked rapidly as he watched the beast of harnessed lightning.

"Oh." He said intelligently. "Well I see where you are going with this, okay. I won't use Raiju Arc yet. Well I better get going then before Ero-Sennin realizes I might not be paying attention to him." Naruto then vanished from his mindscape, leaving the two powerful being that resided within it to their own devices.

**"Hehe, that boy is going to be something else." **

**"Well maybe if you told him that his chakra's natural elemental affinity is for wind, he may have reason to believe he does not have to work as hard in order to use that Kekkai Genkai you gave him." **Kurama said.

**"Now, now Kurama, the boy has other things to learn. He will grow at a surprising rate. Besides, I thought you wanted to sleep." **

**"Zzzzzzz" **Kurama snored causing the Raiju to sweatdrop.

**'Smartass bijuu.'**

XxXxXxX

**Outside Naruto's Mindscape**

Naruto blinked and then quickly twisted his body to avoid colliding with a woman who was walking past him. However, as he turned back in front he found his walking form colliding with that of his sensei's.

"Itai. Oi Ero-Sennin, why'd you stop walking?"

"We've reached the harbour, gaki." Jiraya said with a large grin on his face. "Come on, I've just got to talk with the manager and we'll be on our way." Naruto nodded and sat down atop a small crate he had spied and looked up at the clear blue sky, the sun now blocked out by a fortunate little cloud earning a smirk from Naruto as his eyes were temporarily free from being seared by the harsh golden rays.

"Hmmm, Ero-Sennin better teach me some good stuff and not try to peep on any women that are on Uzu. If he does, I don't give a damn, Sannin or not, I'm kicking him where the sun doesn't shine." Naruto muttered. He looked up to see Jiraya talking with a rather lanky looking man who had a stern look on is face, most likely the boat manager. After watching the two men converse, Jiraya pulled out his Icha Icha Paradise Volume 8 and handed it to the man.

"A pleasure doing business with you, Jiraya-sama!" The man yelled out. Naruto's eyes narrowed.

'So much for keeping a low profile so the Akatsuki won't find us.' He thought. Jiraya sauntered over his disciple before pulling the teen to his feet.

"Come on, I got the boat for free because the guy loved my novels."

"You mean the disgusting smut you write? Guess there is some good that can come from those things." Naruto laughed. Jiraya slapped his student upside the head, but the blonde continued to express his amusement. After getting on the boat, Jiraya made a kagebunshin to row the aquatic vehicle across the clear waters.

"So Ero-Sennin, are you going to teach me anything cool?" Naruto asked with an excited look on his face. Jiraya tapped his chin as he observed his student.

"Well, I don't think I can give you any taijutsu training until I can find a suitable style for you so I guess I will work on your physical capabilities a bit. After that I will help you with your chakra control. When we're through with that, I'm going to teach you how to perform Fuuinjutsu." Naruto blinked at the elder man.

"Fuuinjutsu?" He asked. Jiraya nodded.

"Yeah, the place where we're going, Uzu no Kuni, was famous for having a great talent in the art of Fuuinjutsu. It's one of the same styles of jutsu that was used by the Yondaime and it was through similar teachings, ones that I had taught to him, that allowed him to devise the Shiki Fuuin. The seal that holds back the Kyuubi inside you." Jiraya said, pointing at Naruto's stomach. Naruto's eyes widened.

"Like the...Yondaime?" He whispered. A style of jutsu that his idol had used, he was going to learn that? A big grin broke across his face, threatening to break it. "That's amazing, Ero-Sennin."

"Damn right it's amazing. Fuuinjutsu is also what I had done to seal the flames Itachi had used when we ran into him." Naruto remembered with a nod. Jiraya had pulled out a scroll, scribbled down a seal at a rapid pace and suddenly sealed away the black flames that the elder brother of Sasuke had used to escape his current sensei's jutsu.

"So I'm going to learn things like that?" Jiraya nodded.

"Fuuinjutsu requires a lot of theoretical work so you'll have to use your head a lot. I know you're the kind of person for practical work seeing as how you're a kinaesthetic, a person who learns better through actions rather than theory, but I have a feeling that you will have a rather unforeseen talent in the sealing arts." Jiraya said with a proud grin. 'That and because you have the blood of an Uzumaki and a Namikaze in you. You will no doubt be a force to be reckoned with if you get the hang of fuuinjutsu, Naruto...just like your parents.' He added an as afterthought.

"I see...anything else you have in mind?" He asked.

"Yes actually. I will teach you play some strategy games to sharpen your mind. Chess and Shogi are two prime examples of such games. It will help you to make strategies and rely on tactical warfare when in battle. Naruto, you often rush into the fight and end up making up a plan on the fly, but this only occurs when you are in the middle of the fight. I have noticed that you are a great shinobi due to this amazing gift to come up such amazing strategies, but if you are able to come up with such strategies prior to the battles you will fight you will have a greater chance of success with less casualties especially since when you return to Konoha, you will be returning to fighting with a team by your side instead of just going with me or solo." Jiraya said.

The blonde jinchuriki remained silent as he looked up at the clouds. He smirked as he felt relaxed upon looking at the skies.

_'So this...is why Shikamaru always likes to watch the clouds.' _The blonde mused. After a half an hour had passed, Jiraya stopped his kagebunshin from rowing and the clone dispersed in a puff of smoke. Naruto's eyes shot open, having fallen asleep during that time, and stood up.

"Are we here?" He asked. Jiraya nodded and moved aside so Naruto could see the large island of Uzu no Kuni. Living true to its name, the island was surrounded by a large mass of whirlpools. Naruto's eyes narrowed, trying to see up further ahead, trying to see if he could get a glimpse of the island's characteristics other than the scattered forests. He then turned upon hearing Jiraya step atop the water.

"Why are we walking?" He asked, picking up his backpack and followed his sensei's lead. The fourteen year old boy stepped atop the water as well, standing atop it as if it were solid ground due to the chakra that was continuously running through his feet.

"The island of Uzu, despite having been wiped long ago, still has some protection seals surrounding it. There's a reason why people rarely come to visit or even venture towards this place." Jiraya said as he took out a shuriken from his weapons pouch. He flung the star-shaped weapon and as it crossed over into the territory of whirlpools, Naruto's eyes widened as he saw the whirlpools suddenly react to the shuriken's presence.

Naruto's eyes widened as he saw the whirlpools suddenly spring to life, rising up like serpents before one of them engulfed the shuriken and dragged it down into the depths of the ocean. The whirlpools then returned to normal and the two shinobi were now staring at the waters.

"What was that, Ero-Sennin?"

"That was a protection seal devised by the inhabitants of this island when they were still alive. It is still a mystery as to how the feared people of this island had their defenses breached and thus resulting in their people being slaughtered. It was one of the worst genocides in the history of the shinobi world." Jiraya informed his student. "However, I do know a way around it. Follow me."

Naruto followed Jiraya and they walked along the water's surface before coming to a clear path, void of whirlpools. Jiraya glanced back at Naruto.

_'Uzushiogakure, former homeland of the legendary Uzumaki clan. Naruto...the island only recognizes those with Uzumaki blood and so you will have to venture through the path first before I can follow. Once it recognizes you, the defenses will be dropped until you reach the island's coastline.' _Jiraya thought. He never really liked using people, but it was the only way he could get to the island without being killed by the island itself.

Plus, he couldn't tell Naruto of his heritage. Not yet.

_'I made a promise to your parents that I would protect you, Naruto. If I didn't keep your heritage a secret, I'd be failing that promise.' _

Jiraya then ushered Naruto through first causing the blonde boy to wonder why he had to go through first.

"A real ninja fears nothing, now go. I follow you after, I just need to make sure I have the supplies I need to teach you the fuuinjutsu." Jiraya half-lied as he pulled out a small scroll. Naruto stared hard at Jiraya as the white haired porn writer was going through his backpack in a very serious manner. Naruto shrugged before venturing through the clear path. Unknown to him, the water beneath suddenly had a large seal array on it and a chakra pulse was released.

Naruto felt the pulse and looked around before noticing nothing, though he kept his guard up even more than he had done before.

The seal array suddenly began to twist and swirl. A ring of seals appeared, forming concentric circles. The center of the seal suddenly morphed in shape and where there was nothing, there now lay the kanji for_ 'Uzumaki'_. Jiraya spotted that and smirked. The defenses had been let down as the island had recognized the Uzumaki blood within the blonde.

_'Thank you Kushina-chan.' _He thought to the heavens, clasping his hands in prayer. He then followed after his blonde pupil and the two continued to walk until they reached the coastline of the island. As soon as the two set foot on the island, Naruto immediately surveyed his surroundings. The stone beach make a crunch-like sound as he walked along it, Jiraya walking alongside him. Numerous trees formed the forests he had spied earlier on. However, what took a large majority of the island was the large amount of rubble that filled the island.

Dilapidated buildings, towers and other forms of infrastructure that once stood tall were now cracked, broken and some of which had been reduced to piles of clay and stone. Naruto observed the area and felt a tug at his heart strings.

_'What happened here?' _Naruto thought before he heard a loud SNAP! beneath his foot. He looked down and his eyes widened. A human's skeletal forearm, now broken due to the pressure Naruto's foot had exerted on it, lay beneath him. The body that the arm was attached to lay beneath a large slab of rock and Naruto saw traces of red hair poking out from beneath the slab. He looked at the forearm once more. It was small.

_'A child?' _Naruto guessed. He then turned to Jiraya who had placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Come on Naruto, we can't bother with the dead." He said. Naruto gulped before looking at his sensei.

"I know you said that the people of Uzu no Kuni were killed off in a genocide but...this is unlike anything I would have imagined." Naruto walked away from the broken form of the child before following Jiraya through the broken land of Uzu. After a few minutes, Jiraya and Naruto had reached a suitable area of forest that lay past the ruins of Uzu. It was spacious and there was a river running through the area. Naruto followed the river's opposite flow path and came to stare in awe at the majestic mountains that were almost completely obscured by the tall trees.

Naruto channelled chakra into his feet and climbed up a tree as Jiraya was setting up camp. Naruto hopped atop one of the higher branches and continued to stare at the landscape. The forestry made extreme meanders around the areas where there used to be civilization, now a bunch of rubble. The river seemed to cut the island in half, its path starting in the distance where several mountains lay, their peaks seemed to scrape the sky. He then followed the river's actual flow pattern and saw it had come to a stop at a large lake near the upper sections of the land of Uzu no Kuni where there lay the largest amount of destroyed infrastructure out of the entire island.

Despite Uzu no Kuni appearing small, it was apparently far larger than one would have anticipated. Naruto continued to stare at the landscape before dropping down from the tree. He landed on his feet, bending his knees to prevent the shock from hurting his legs. As he stood back up, he looked to see Jiraya had finished setting up the small camp site.

Their two packs lay against a pair of tall trees while a large pile of firewood lay next to their bags and Jiraya was already making a small pile, circling it with stones, to prepare for the night when it came.

"Alright, Naruto. Now that I've made the camp it's time to start your training." He said in a serious tone. Naruto nodded as the training began. It was a rather uneventful set of training though seeing as how Jiraya had him practice his chakra control by running up and down trees as well as walking along the flowing waters of the river. He had walked atop the frickin' ocean to reach the island so the river was child's play to the blonde jinchuriki. After a few hours of practicing chakra control, Jiraya had Naruto do a various set of exercises to increase his body's capabilities.

Four-hundred push-ups, two-hundred sit-ups, three hundred and fifty handstand push-ups and then a few punch and kick drills against the thick trunks of the nearby trees which were also placed at a number within the hundreds margin.

"Alright, Naruto now that the warm-ups are done I'm going to get a feel for what you would need improvement in. Your tests will be in terms of strength, speed, agility, endurance, flexibility and stealth." Jiraya said before getting into a basic stance. He tucked his arms in so that his hands were against his waist and his legs were spread a bit past shoulder width and bent at ninety degree angles.

"Alright, now then...punch me and kick me." Jiraya said. Naruto shook his head.

"What?" He asked.

"I said hit me. Give it everything you've got. I know you're fourteen and genin level, so your strength may not be all that great, but I can take it. I've been hit with Gamabunta's hand and pummelled by Tsunade. Nothing will outclass that woman's hits so give it your best, Naruto." The blonde hesitantly held up his fists, wondering if it was alright to punch his sensei, but he got over it. He gave a battle cry and charged forth before punching with all he had. He reared back his left fist and nailed Jiraya in the centre of his chest. Jiraya released a small grunt as he was sent leaning back a few centimetres, but nothing more.

The white haired man returned to his original position, looked down at the shorter blonde and nodded.

"Now go with a straight kick." Naruto did as he was told and he achieved the same result. Jiraya had not even shifted from his spot, either that or the shift was minuscule one wouldn't be able to tell. The Gama Sennin was put into a position where he was leaning backwards, but his feet had remained anchored to the spot. Naruto had repeated the action in order to make sure he wasn't staying on the ground due to sticking to it with chakra, but found his claim to be false.

"Okay, your strength is something we need to work one. I'll whip up some weights and gravity seals for you soon enough, but right now it's time for your other test." Naruto frowned as he held up his fist. He had put everything he had into his punch. He had kicked so hard during the Chunin Exams that he was able to send Kiba airborne, he was also able to do so with a punch like he did with Neji when he used the tunnelling tactic to nail him in the chin and earn himself the win. He was able to appear in time to save Sasuke from being attacked by a half-transformed Gaara during the war against Suna and Oto by kicking him in the jaw, sending the red headed boy soaring for a few seconds. However...Jiraya hadn't even moved from his spot.

'Is the gap between me and Ero-Sennin really that big?' He thought. He then looked up upon hearing Jiraya take out a few kunai and shuriken.

"Now I want you to dodge these. I will throw them at only half my actual speed of throwing so that might help you a bit, so be prepared." Naruto's legs tensed as Jiraya held up the weapons and with a flick of his wrist sent them soaring towards his pupil. Naruto's eyes widened, but his lightweight body and his lean frame was what gave him the edge.

The four shuriken that were sent towards him were avoided. One was ducked under, the second was avoided by Naruto twisting at the waist before he leaned backwards so his upper body was parallel to the ground to avoid the third. To avoid the fourth he had went with the momentum of his leaning backwards and went into a handstand and bent his arms, allowing him to push off and avoid the fourth shuriken. However, he quickly had to rotate his body to avoid the kunai that was aimed for his head.

"OI WATCH IT!" He yelled as he performed another aerial twist, spreading his legs apart in a straight split to avoid the second kunai that made him gulp and pale with fear as he felt the blade just barely touched his genitalia. He then reached out and snatched Jiraya's third kunai out of the air and threw it back at the fourth. A resounding CLANG! was heard upon impact. Jiraya nodded with satisfaction.

"How did I do?"

"I'll give you your overall score when I finish with them all." He informed the blonde. He then held up a few rocks in his hand, there were about ten of them.

"I'll test your pain tolerance in your endurance test. I'm going to pelt these rocks at you and when you think you can't handle anymore hits, just say when." Jiraya instructed. The disciple of the Gama Sennin nodded before slipping into the stance Jiraya had made when he was doing his strength test earlier. He then tensed his muscles and nodded to the black eyed man.

Jiraya hurled the rocks. One. Two. Three. They struck Naruto with amazing force, but Naruto refused to go down. His determination and pride refusing to let him do so. Four. Five. Six. Seven. The four stones hit him in the chest simultaneously and Naruto gritted his teeth, but suddenly released a loud 'oof' as the eighth and ninth struck him in the solar plexus hard enough to knock the wind out of his lungs. He coughed as he aimed to retrieve the oxygen and looked up at his teacher.

"When." He wheezed out earning a chuckle from Jiraya, as well as from his two tenants.

"Now for your final test...stealth. I've heard of your pranks gaki and I gotta say I'm impressed from what I've heard. At the age of six you were able to sneak into the Hyuga compound and hit them with glitter cannons and rainbow paint, you were able to make the Nara's look like giant chickens with the classic glue and feathers with a red rubber glove atop the head and a yellow paper cone for a beak, venture into the Academy which is guarded by a few high level chunin and stick all the chairs up against the ceiling by nailing them down...or up I should say. At age seven, you broke into the Uchiha compound and face painted all of them in their sleep so that they had moustaches, monocles and whatnot on their faces as well as plastering a clown face onto Uchiha Fugaku's face." Jiraya and Naruto laughed as the white haired listed all of Naruto most notable accomplishments as a master prankster before stopping at the final one.

"And the cou't de resistance, at the age of twelve...two years ago...on the day before you became a genin. Oh boy, I really laughed when I heard about this one. You were wearing that..." He pointed at Naruto's jumpsuit, "horrid orange piece of shit you call a jumpsuit, in fucking broad daylight and you painted the fucking Hokage Monument." Naruto blushed in embarrassment before registering what he said.

"OI! What's wrong with orange?" He growled out, huffing in mock anger at his sensei. Jiraya chuckled before ruffling Naruto's hair.

"Well then, if you want to prove me wrong about the orange piece of shit...then hide. I'll give you ten seconds to hide from me and then I'm going to see how long it will take me to find you. However, I'm going to put a limit as to how far away you can hide. About a ten metre radius should be suitable and..." Jiraya smirked evilly, causing Naruto to shudder in his mind. "I'm going to make this a game, if you exceed that radius or if I am able to find you within one hour, I will teach you a fuuinjutsu technique that the Yondaime knew." Naruto grinned and bounced up and down.

"Really?! That's so coool. Let's go!"

"Wait...if you lose however..." Naruto frowned as Jiraya uttered the 'l' word, "You will have to read my Icha Icha Paradise Volume 1, admit that Icha Icha Paradise is a good novel and how that I, the author, am a god among men for writing them." Naruto's eyes widened and his jaw hung loosely. He couldn't...it wouldn't be possible. He couldn't say those things to the perverted man, it just wasn't humanly possible for a boy like Naruto to-the blonde shuddered- compliment the pervert on his literary works, but he weighed his options. On the plus side, he could learn a cool jutsu. On the cons end of the scale he would have to swallow his pride and compliment the pervert for his perverted deeds.

"Jutsu...or read a piece of smut." He muttered this to himself before sighing and complied with the bet. Jiraya grinned wider at that.

"Okay then. Ready?" He asked. Naruto grinned like the bijuu within him. Stealth was his element. There was no way he'd pass up the chance to hide from a member of the Sannin.

"You know it, Ero-Sennin! Dattebayo!" Naruto exclaimed, jumping to release some excess excitement. Jiraya held up ten fingers as he told Naruto to go. However, as soon as Jiraya blinked...he realized he made a very grave mistake. The boy had disappeared within that split second and Jiraya's face paled slightly as he tried to feel for the blonde's chakra.

_'Impossible...he's able to suppress that large chakra supply of his? Just what the hell is this gaki?!' _He thought as he began his search for the blonde.

XxXxXxX

**One Hour Later**

Jiraya scowled as Naruto was riding atop the older man's shoulders on their way back to the camp site.

"Ero-Sennin lost! I'm going to get a cool Fuuinjutsu too, Dattebayo!" He laughed. Jiraya's eye twitched.

"I can't believe it. I'm a seasoned ninja, a member of the Sannin...and yet I was unable to find a baka of a fourteen year old gaki." Jiraya muttered.

"I resent that comment about being a baka, Ero-Sennin." Naruto deadpanned.

"Now I see those Anbu have good reason as to why they were unable to catch you." Jiraya said as he dropped down with Naruto and the blonde was roughly dropped down on the ground as he had fallen off of the older man's shoulders.

"Itai! Ero-Sennin, that hurt!" Naruto said as he rubbed his hurting cranium. The two males then looked up at the sky and noticed that it was almost sun down if the sky's colour was any indication. No longer was it blue, but reds, yellows and shades of magenta were beginning to bleed into the expanse of blue. Jiraya then walked over to the sizeable pile of firewood and threw in a few sticks within the already prepared set he had made prior to Naruto's tests. He then set it aflame with a small katon jutsu.

"So how did I do, Ero-Sennin? You said you'd give me my overall results when we were finished." He said. Jiraya nodded as he sat down on the grass next to Naruto.

"Now Naruto, you are good shinobi, but it appears that whoever was your jounin sensei didn't do a very good job since you appeared to be self taught. Kakashi was your sensei, right?" He asked. Naruto frowned and nodded.

"All he taught me was tree climbing. There were a few team building exercises and he made us do a few tactical training drills, but there was nothing he taught me and Sakura-chan individually. Everything was given to the teme. I know he needed to train him with the Sharingan, but he got taijutsu training, he got speed enhancement training...Chidori." Naruto held his hand up to his chest where the Uchiha had stabbed him in the chest at the Valley of the End. Jiraya's eyes narrowed. He would have to have a word with the silver haired scarecrow when the trip was over.

"Hey gaki, listen the Uchiha gaki may have gotten all that shit, but you're training with me now. You're going to learn some epic stuff that's going to make the Uchiha look like he was still a newborn. And plus...Rasengan trumps the Chidori any day." He smirked. Naruto chuckled.

"Arigato, Ero-Sennin. I needed to hear that." Jiraya ruffled the blonde's hair.

"Sure thing, gaki. Well moving along...the results of your tests. I will be putting you on a scale from genin to jounin since your abilities do not exceed that of an anbu or kage. Well actually, stealth and chakra supply are in those levels, but other than those two..." Naruto nodded.

"Alright, your strength. Your strength, I would place you at low chunin level. You're a rather strong boy Naruto, even for a kid of your age and the lifestyle you had and given your diet. However, when Sarutobi-sensei was still alive he told me you had a ramen based diet with only milk and a few vegetables to add variety to your diet. So to build up your strength, you will be given a better diet. Protein, Carbohydrates, Vitamins and Minerals for example." Naruto was about to yell out against being denied his beloved ramen, but was silenced by Jiraya's hard stare. "Naruto, you can't keep having ramen all the time. It's the reason why you're shorter than everyone else in your age group. No doubt that by the time this is over with, you'll be at least up to my cheek in terms of height and I'm past six feet tall."

"Fine." Naruto huffed, "But can I at least have it sometimes?"

"Three times a week on days of your choosing, but it will only be as a snack. Nothing more. One ramen on every one of those three days. Now then, also to increase your strength, like I told you before, I'm going to be giving you some weights inscribed with gravity seals. These will allow you to increase the weight of the weights that I will give you when you get used to them so that way your body will always be working to adjust to become stronger to handle the new weights."

Naruto nodded in understanding.

"Your speed is rather good. A high chunin level of speed, but I'm guessing that from your recent battles like the one with the Hyuga during the Chunin Exams, your speed is much better when you're under the influence of adrenalin."

"You saw my fight?" Naruto asked. Jiraya gave Naruto a soft smile, noting the hunger for acknowledgement in them, and nodded.

"You performed rather well and the tunnel tactic was rather good, but the chess and shogi lessons will help increase your tactical mindset. The Kyuubi's chakra saved your ass though so even though I will be teaching you how to further your control of the fox's chakra, I will be teaching you to handle yourself without it. I don't want you to be too reliant on the Kyuubi."

"Okay, Ero-Sennin." Naruto said, 'Plus I have Raiju Arc, but I don't want to be too reliant on that either. Ero-Sennin has a point with that.'

**"I concur with the boy's sensei. You can't be too reliant on the powers that are given to you." **Kamina's voice entered Naruto's mind.

**"I deny that. The more the gaki uses my chakra, the weaker the seal will get. I WANT MY FREEDOM!" **Kurama rammed his body against the bars of his cage to emphasize his want for freedom. Naruto silenced his his two beasts so that he wouldn't hear the sound of rattling cage bars continuously.

"Your agility and flexiblity are great. Jounin level for sure as you dodged my weapons like it was no one's business. Nice touch with the snatching the third one out of the air and hitting the last one." Naruto swelled with pride at being praised. "Your endurance on the other hand, you were down after nine hits. Enemies are going to hit much harder than my rocks and I wasn't even throwing them as hard as I could. The Kyuubi will be there to heal your wounds yes, but that doesn't mean that it will heal them as fast as it can for ALL of your wounds."

**"What's that flesh bag talking about? My ability to heal the kit's wounds make it seem as if the boy is practically immortal!"**

**"That and his heritage as well." **Kamina added.

_'What's this about my heritage?' _Naruto asked. Though silence was all he was met with. He scowled before focusing back on Jiraya.

"Your stealth is superb as I told you. High Anbu level for sure and it can become even greater if you keep training in it. Just because you're good at something doesn't mean you shouldn't keep practicing it. I learned that the hard way when I found out I was good at peeping...but then I stopped after a few days to write the Volume 3 for Icha Icha Paradise. "Kuso...if only I hadn't sneezed." Naruto sweatdropped.

_'Is that really the comparison he wants to use?' _Naruto thought.

**"He sneezed?!" **Kamina laughed within Naruto's mind, Kyuubi snickering as well.

**"But I have to hand it to the ningen, peeping on women is not such an easy task sometimes." **

_'How would you know, Kyuubi?'_

**"Pfft. Listen gaki, when you're as old as me you tend to do things that you're not proud of to pass the time...but it was worth it in the end. Such nice figures those women had."**

**"BOOBIES!" **Kamina yelled out with glee as Kurama shared the images of what happened during the early days of his creation. Naruto's eye twitched.

'Great, now I have three perverts to deal with.' He thought.

**"The gaki's in denial." **Kurama said.

**"It's sad really." **Kamina added shaking his head. Naruto's eye twitched even more before he completely severed the link, not even allowing a single piece of the connection to be left until he wanted to contact the Raiju and Bijuu again.

_'Baka-kitsune, Baka-Raiju...Baka Ero-Sennin.' _Naruto thought as he glanced back at his sensei who was now crying, beating the ground with his fist and wailing about not being able to see the glorious parts of the female anatomy.

"Oh the things I could have seen." He muttered. Naruto rolled his eyes at the white haired Sannin before getting up.

"Ero-Sennin, I'm going for a walk okay?" Jiraya froze slightly before looking at the blonde.

"Don't come back too late, you need to get up early for training tomorrow." Naruto nodded with a casual wave of his hand.

"Yeah, Yeah I'll be back. Don't worry, I'll be fine -ttebayo." He then headed off into the deep, dark woods. Once he had found that he had travelled a suitable distance, Naruto activated his link to Kamina the Raiju.

_'Kamina...I'm ready.' _He thought. The thunder beast nodded.

**"Excellent. It is now time to begin your training in Raiju Arc."**

**"Your training in the kata for your taijutsu styles will occur after you manage to draw upon your Raiju powers, kit." **Kurama added. Naruto nodded and cracked his neck and knuckles.

_'Ikuzo!'_

XxXxXxX

**The Next Day**

Naruto shot up from his slumber and found himself cold, wet and shivering.

"N-N-N-Nani?!" He exclaimed, hugging his body for warmth. He then turned in the direction that the water had seemed to have come from and he looked to see Jiraya standing with an empty bucket and a small smirk of satisfaction on his face.

"E-E-Ero-S-S-S-Sennin, y-y-you s-s-s-s-s-suck!" He yelled. Jiraya chuckled as he pulled Naruto out of his sleeping bag so it could dry out along with its user.

"Ohayo Gozaimasu, Naruto." Jiraya said as he tossed a towel at Naruto. The towel was caught and used to the best of its ability to dry the orange shinobi. The blonde was groaning silently as he felt the pain from last night's Raiju Arc training come back to him. Kamina had run him into the ground with drills on how to properly attune his chakra to that of the storm in order for him to even get a grasp of his Raiju chakra. However, he had failed in his many attempts to grasp the thunder beast's energy, but the Raiju let him off saying how that this was the first time a human was given the powers of a mythological creature such as himself so he wasn't expecting Naruto to learn the ability overnight.

Kurama on the other hand, had different views for Naruto. He sent mental picture after mental picture into Naruto's brain depicting the stances for the kata for his first taijutsu style. Hiryuu Ken, the Flying Dragon's Fist. His body was sore from the constant shifts in posture and he had literally collapsed into his sleeping bag when he returned to the camp site, finding Jiraya sleeping.

Who knew the two creatures could be such slave drivers?

**"We can hear you, gaki!" **Kurama roared. Naruto ignored the kitsune as he continued to dry himself.

Once Naruto was warm and dry, Jiraya then had Naruto go through a set of physical training exercises, now with the gravity seal-weights that Jiraya had supplied for Naruto from within a scroll via pocket dimension. Once the physical training was over, Jiraya continued to have Naruto practice his chakra control for an hour before giving him the task of trying to master the Rasengan.

"But didn't I already do that, Ero-Sennin?"

"You can make a perfect Rasengan, gaki...however, I want you to learn it until you can do it with only one hand. You may not get the time to make a kagebunshin to help with making the Rasengan, so I will be having you work on this so that you can become a TRUE master of the Rasengan." Naruto nodded and began trying to master the Rasengan. Many times it had blown back in his face, the chakra backlash causing a few cuts to form on his body only for Kurama to heal the damage. After two hours of watching his pupils struggle to form a stable spheroid of chakra, Jiraya stopped him and had the blonde sit with him on the grass. Naruto then saw Jiraya pull out two wooden objects from his scroll's pocket dimension seal.

"What are those?" Naruto asked. Jiraya rested them on the ground before smirking.

"This is your tactical warfare training. This one is a chess board..." He pointed to the object decorated with a checkerboard pattern, "and this other one is a shogi board. I'm going to show you how to play them and then we will begin playing." Naruto groaned as he was explained the rules of each game. It was long and boring to listen to, but Naruto found himself to be rather interested in the games when they began playing.

He liked chess better due to it being less complex, but he still found it had required a lot of patience and strategy in deciding what to move and where to move it. Hours had passed and by the time it was noon, Jiraya found that Naruto had finally gained a good grasp on both games as the blonde seemed to be learning as he was going along. Also, Jiraya found that Naruto's rather random and haphazard moves were actually part of a strategy in their own right which resulted in throwing off the opponent and allowing Naruto to go in for a kill.

'But he still needs to develop better tactics rather than just going in there without any plan whatsoever.' The white haired man thought as he packed away the games. "Now that you've gotten a grasp of the games, tomorrow we can start playing more seriously. If case you want to review anything, here's a rule book for both games." Naruto was handed a small dark brown book that read, "Board Games for Dummies" on the cover.

"Really? For Dummies?" He deadpanned. Jiraya shrugged.

"It was the only one in the store when I went to learn how to play the games myself. Anyway, now that your tactical training is out of the way, I shall begin your training in Fuuinjutsu." Jiraya took out a few scrolls and rested them in front of Naruto. "Fuuinjutsu requires knowing a great deal of theoretical knowledge so for the rest of the day, I will be making sure you read your scrolls. You will have breaks to eat in between, but that is all." Jiraya said.

"But Ero-Sennin how will I finish all these scrolls in time? There's more than ten of these things and I doubt that any of them are short and concise." Naruto whined. Jiraya chuckled.

"So the master of Kagebunshin no Jutsu doesn't even know what the jutsu was originally for? Gaki, you really are something else." He laughed. Naruto blinked in confusion, scratching his head. He then wondered for a while.

_'Kagebunshin...what does that have to do with anything?' _He thought. He tapped his finger against his knee as he sat cross-legged on the ground, adjusting positions as he tried to think as to what the older man had implied by saying that the Kagebunshin had another purpose.

_'Well I normally use my clones to overwhelm the opponent, to be able to use certain combos on them, but that's it. Kuso...if only I was able to remember like when my kagebunshins dispelled and I would gain their...' _Naruto blinked before slapping himself in the face. "BAKA!" He reprimanded himself for not thinking of it sooner.

"Got it?" His sensei asked. The blonde Raiju Arc user nodded before forming the clones and began reading. By the end of it all, Naruto had fallen unconscious from memory overload when he dispelled his clones all at once when they had finished their readings. Jiraya sighed.

"I should have mentioned that he could get memory overload. A normal person would die, but you jinchuriki really are lucky to have your bijuu give you a healing factor that allows you to survive any kind of trauma."

An hour later, Naruto woke up and yawned. He sniffed the air and found himself greeted by the scent of freshly cooked fish.

"Good, you're up. Eat and we can start your Fuuinjutsu training." Jiraya said. Naruto nodded as he and the perverted hermit dug into the fish. A few, non-poisonous, berries were also gathered to build up Naruto's immunity despite the Kyuubi being there to prevent such ailments from occurring in the first place. After eating, Jiraya then began to explain the practical use of Fuuinjutsu.

Fuuinjutsu is described as the use of seals which are written in the form of elaborate kanji in order to create the seal formula which can be made either through the use of a handsigns, but most commonly through the use of a scroll, brush and ink. The ink for Fuuinjutsu is made with the constituents of regular ink, but there must be a slight amount of blood mixed in with the ink in order for the Fuuinjutsu to work since blood was a part of the body and thus, the blood possessed chakra within the cells. The blood was also a good conduit between the seal and the users chakra in order to the fuuinjutsu formula to become active.

Fuuinjutsu had a large number of seals used in its methodology, but the main types seals used were the 'Open' and 'Close' seals, used in Space-Time fuuinjutsu such as when sealing an object into a scroll and then releasing said object from said scroll; the _'Elemental' _seals which were used in conjunction to the _'Open' _and _'Close'_ seals in order to perform feats such as sealing away an element by having the users chakra seemingly absorb the element in question before using the _'Open' _seal to open a pocket dimension to store away the element before the _'Close' _seal, closes the pocket dimension.

_'Open' _and _'Close' _seals could also be amplified through the use of a 'Matrix' seal which allowed one to increase the size of a pocket dimension. It was found through a large amount of study that a pocket dimension actually had a limit to the amount of objects it could store. The 'Matrix' seal was invented in order to split apart the pocket dimension made and make it into the shape of a mathematical matrix, a grid-shape if you will. This created small 'pouches' within the pocket dimension where items could be stored within each _'pouch'_. The amount of 'pouches' made in the pocket dimension was determined by the size of the 'Matrix' being used. As a result, _'Number' _seals were made to vary the amount of space one could make in the pocket dimension.

_'Time' _and _'Space' _seals were used to create teleportation seals and were what the Yondaime Hokage had used alongisde through some very elaborate fuuinjutsu methods and formulas before coming to the final product which resulted in the formation of his prized jutsu, the **Hiraishin** no Jutsu. These sort of seals were also used in the **Kuchiyose no Jutsu**.

Certain fuuinjutsu techniqued required a 'sacrifice' or 'payment' in some cases in order for the jutsu to work. In some cases it would be chakra, in others it was blood, but in rare cases, the case concerning Naruto's Shiki Fuuin, it could come at the cost of a life in order for it to be performed.

"Ero-Sennin...just how is my Shiki Fuuin made? I mean, now that I understand what you're talking about since I now have my kagebunshins' memories I can now better understand how the seal works." Naruto said.

"Your seal, the Shiki Fuuin is comprised of two _'Tetragram' _seals or _'Four Symbols' _seal as some would call it. The _'Tetragram' _seals, as you would have learned from your reading, is used to seal away an object within the human body. The double _'Tetragram' _seal on your body was created with the intent to seal away larger and more powerful beings, the Kyuubi being the being in question. This double _'Tetragram' _seal is connected so tightly that it is more durable than the _'Iron Armour' _seal, another type of seal that is currently being used in Kumogakure to seal away the Hachibi."

"Hachibi? Eight tails?" Naruto asked. Jiraya nodded.

"Now then, the double _'Tetragram' _seal, when combined, merges to form the seal that is on your on stomach when you activate your chakra. This is know as the _'Eight Trigrams' _seal."

"But, Ero-Sennin, if this seal is so strong, then why is it that the Kyuubi's chakra is able to merge with my own. At least...that's what I was told by the baka-kitsune." The growl of said baka-kitsune was heard in the back of his mind, but he ignored it.

"The reason is because the Yondaime left a space between each of the 'Tetragram' seals. This space is what allows the Kyuubi's chakra to harmlessly leave its body and go into your own system thus increasing your reserves as well as slowly, but surely, taking away the strength of the beast. However, as you have come to notice, the Kyuubi's chakra seems to come out in higher quantities at the points when you are in emotional or physical distress. As a result, due to the large amount of chakra being forced through the seal and the fact that the seal weakens with age, you are thereby weakening the seal even more."

Naruto's eyes widened, "Is there anyway to tighten it back? Can't you use like, I don't know a _'Bind' _seal or something to hold it together." Jiraya shook his head.

"There is a way to hold the seal, but Naruto your seal is the most developed seal that was ever made to hold a bijuu. Only the former members of this society in Uzu no Kuni would be able to create a more powerful seal than the one you have now, but sadly they are all gone. Now then as to how your seal could be tightened or loosened, it is because there is a _'Key' _formula to your Shiki Fuuin."

"A _'Key' _formula?" He asked. Jiraya nodded.

"It will be able to weaken or strengthen the seal. You could do what you wished to the seal if you possessed the key. Since the Yondaime's death, I have been holding the _'Key' _and you know very well why I will not give you the _'Key' _formula."

"Because I'm too young and I wouldn't really understand how it would work until I finish my training?" Naruto guessed.

"Precisely that. You're learning, that's good. Now then...let's make you that ink shall we?" Jiraya grinned as he unsealed a small bottle of ink from a scroll. After developing Naruto's ink that was specific for his chakra nature and type, he began to learn how to make his seals from the perverted Sannin. Despite his other personas, Naruto was always impressed when Jiraya took on his serious shinobi persona. It was amazing just to see the attributes that made Jiraya such a feared and brilliant shinobi.

After his Fuuinjutsu lessons, Naruto left to practice his Hiryuu Ken taijutsu style as well as to practice in drawing upon his Raiju Arc Kekkai Genkai.

The schedule continued in a similar manner. Naruto would get up via bucket of cold water to the face from Jiraya, do his physical exercises with the heavy weights and _'Gravity' _seals he always had been wearing since he had put them on, practicing his chakra control and trying to form a stable Rasengan by the end of it followed by a few rounds of Chess and Shogi. After that it was Fuuinjutsu until sun down. Finally, Naruto trained with Kamina and Kurama for a few more hours and then he would get to sleep. Lather, Rinse, Repeat.

XxXxXxX

**Timeskip- Five Days Later**

Naruto sighed as he sat atop a piece of the broken infrastructure that was once a part of Uzushiogakure no Sato, the Village Hidden in the Whirling Tides, the capital of Uzu no Kuni. He had been informed a bit as to what Uzu no Kuni was about by the white haired Sennin and Naruto was always still taken aback when he was told just how they suffered from genocide.

After having spent a week on the island, Jiraya had decided to give Naruto a break for the day. All work and no play made John a very dull boy after all. As Naruto stared out at the sea from atop the piece of destroyed building he marvelled at the hidden magnificence of the whirlpools that protected the island. He sighed as he continued to stare out at the open expanse of blue.

"One week. I can't believe it's already been that long, I feel like I just got here." Naruto muttered to himself. "Ero-Sennin really has been working me into the ground." He added as he looked over himself. His orange jumpsuit jacket had to be discarded in the end as the physical training and the backlash from the Rasengan, plus the fact that he was now making progress with drawing upon the Raiju Arc chakra and thus making wind and lightning shoot forth from his body, the compilation of repercussions sometimes left a slash mark or burn on his jacket and was what resulted in the discarding of the jacket in the first place. Thus all he had on only his orange pants, his navy blue t-shirt which he wore over the padded vest that was to prevent kunai or shuriken from going into his chest flesh (though he thought that it did a poor job of doing that if being impaled by such weapons had occurred on a regular basis during his time with Team 7), his blue shinobi sandals and the necklace Tsunade gave him.

He fingered the piece of jade coloured jewellery before jumping off from the piece of rubble. He adjusted his hitai-ate, which now bore a few small tears on the cloth, before walking off to explore more of Uzu's ruins. As he continued to walk, he spotted something caught his eye.

_**""**_ It was a piece of red stone that bore a familiar shape. Naruto walked over to it and found the stone was a bit circular in shape and found other pieces of the rock nearby, though they were slightly scattered away from each other. He took up all the pieces of the rock and began to turn them around in different directions so as to solve this new puzzle.

After a few minutes, the blonde jinchuriki managed to piece together the rock-like puzzle causing his eyes to widen as he realized what it was he was looking at. It was the shape of the spiral that was found on the back of his clothes, the orange jacket to be more specific, and on the back of chunin/jounin vests. He then looked up and stared at the building before him, despite being rather old and dilapidated and tilting at an extreme angle that would have been sure to make it topple, was still standing, the large piece of it missing, the original resting place of the spiral he had pieced together.

He let loose an audible gulp of nervousness before he entered it. The blue eyed Uzumaki twisted and turned through it, venturing deepr and deeper into the building, descending down the stone steps that were sure to have extended underground given the fact that after eight flights he still hadn't reached the bottom floor. He then leaped over the railing of the steps, using his better chakra control to skid down the walls before coming to a stop at the bottom floor. He observed the area before holding up his hand.

He took a deep breath and drew upon the power of his Raiju Arc and immediately, lightning coated his hand in a bright blue colour. The sparks of blue voltage flew off from his hand, but it generated a suitable amount of light. He then spotted the single corridor that lay before him and ran down it. He continued to run down the lengthy pathway before stopping.

Dead end. However, it was what was on the dead end wall that caught his fancy. It was the spiral, the crimson spiral that brought the feeling of familiarity to him every time he saw it. He saw it once more and placed his hand against it.

Suddenly a seal array sprung up and Naruto held up his lightning encased his hand to observe it. It was a rather complex dimensional seal array with various _'Open'_, _'Close'_, _'Time'_, _'Space' _and _'Matrix' _seals written in the shape of a square that had a circle lying within the square. Then in the centre of the circle, two more _'Open' _and _'Close' _seals lay there with the single kanji for _'Blood' _lying in between them. It was a space-time seal meaning that there was a pocket dimension of some sort behind the dead end wall. The numerous amount of _'Guard' _seals along with the kanji for _'Blood' _which implied a _'Blood' _seal was hidden somewhere amongst the array

Naruto placed his hand against the wall before he saw the seals take on a blue glow once he had made contact with it. His eyes narrowed and noticed the glow would vanish upon taking his hand off of it and then returning when he placed it back on it. He pumped a small amount of chakra into the 'Blood' seal and he saw the square and circle that surrounded the seal array suddenly break down and vanish. His eyes widened before he bit his thumb out of sheer surprise to see if his theory, the one flowing through his mind, was true. The blood flowed from the small wound before Kurama could heal it and he placed his bleeding thumb against the 'Blood' seal.

The seal array then released a crimson glow, a glow that was bright enough to meld with his lightning's generated light and make it become a violet colour as the colours mixed. Once the seal array stopped glowing, the kanji for _'Uzumaki' _then appeared in front of his face with the spiral beneath it. Naruto's eyes widened as he stared at the kanji for his last name. He tentatively reached out to touch it only to draw his hand back when the wall rippled as if it were liquid. He slowly touched the wall once more and the wall indeed rippled. He pushed his hand further through the rippling surface only to see that his hand could now go through the wall.

He took a deep breath as he wondered just what awaited him on the other side of the wall.

_'I've never backed down before. I swore I would never run away from anything so why start now?' _He asked himself.

**"Because retreating could sometimes kill you?" **Kamina spoke.

**"Because you're a baka." **Kurama added. Naruto's eyes narrowed as the smartasses that lived in his mind began to speak again.

'Urasai, baka-kitsune, baka-Raiju.' He thought back to them.

**"He insulted us! HOW PAINFUL!" **The two powerful beings released mock sobs of sadness that caused Naruto to sweatdrop. He shook his head to rid himself of the voices in his head...he just realized how insane he made himself sound as he made that thought, though.

He pushed through and then he went through the wall and found himself in a large, spacious room filled with numerous,dust covered scrolls. Most pertained to fuuinjutsu, some were about elemental jutsus, mostly relating to water and earth, but then Naruto spotted one. It was rather large, dusty and the scroll's paper was yellow-brown showing that it was kept here for quite a while.

It was titled _'History of Uzushiogakure'_. Naruto then read it through and realized that the scroll was about the Uzumaki Clan, the Clan on Longevity and a clan of Sealing Masters.

_'Uzumaki Clan...My...clan?' _He wondered. He then continued to read on before coming across one piece of information that dated back about thirty six years before his birth...and the final entry in the history scroll. It was more or less, from a first person perspective thus it was probably the author's entry in the scroll."Uzushigakure no Sato, our once proud home is now afflicted by battle. As a result, our country is now a war-torn area due to people fearing us for our skills in Fuuinjutsu. Uzushio has taken a precautionary measure due to the circumstances our island has been put under. We have done what we could to send away as many people as we were able to, some of the boats were destroyed in the process and killed off the passengers, but at least I was able to see that some of them made it through. I am going to die, I know that very well, but at least we were able to store all of our most treasured secrets and knowledge down here. Only a man or woman of Uzumaki heritage will be able to break these bindings that lock away the last remnants of Uzumaki heritage. Now then...I guess I better write one last historical event before I go off to fight alongside my brethren." Naruto paused as he looked around the room.

_'The last of Uzumaki heritage huh?' _He thought before continuing to read. But this was what caught him off guard. The piece of information that sparked something within him. What it was, he couldn't describe it, but he knew that the feeling was one that shook him to his core. He read the passage outloud to himself so as to assure himself was he was reading was in fact real.

"Circumstances in Uzushigakure no Sato's economy due to the wars had resulted in us sending away Uzumaki Kushina, one of the noble daughters who had migrated to Konoha for protection. Uzumaki Kushina, due to her having a special chakra that was able to subdue the bijuu, became the second jinchuriki of the Kyuubi no Yoko as was decreed by Senju-Uzumaki Mito-sama...wife of Senju Hashirama, the Shodaime Hokage." Naruto dropped the scroll in his hands before looking down at himself, more specifically his stomach._'Previous...jinchuriki of the Kyuubi. Uzushiogakure...former land of the Uzumaki clan.' _Naruto's thoughts raced. Confusion, Distress, Sadness...these emotions rushed through him before compiling into one single entity. Naruto's head bent low, his bangs shadowing his eyes before his head snapped up, his eyes flashing to a deep crimson and lightning and wind surrounded in body in small bursts. His chakra flared with his spiking emotions before turning to his 's mouth twisted into an animalistic snarl as he stormed out of the room, the large scroll tucked under his arm. He had to have a little chat with his sensei.

**XxDivinedragonxX**

**Kitsunedragon**

**REVIEW!**


	3. Chapter 3

**KitsuneDragon and I do not own Naruto all rights go Kishimoto**

**Hey guys this is XxdivinedragonxX here with the new chapter for Cry of Raiju. An epic tale in which is written by me and my fellow partner KitsuneDragon. For all of you who have loved both chapters I applaud you and we thank you so much for reading this story and reviewing it, it always helps us gain more enthusiasm and drive when we get reviews, be it positive or negative. It just learns that we make mistakes thus allows us to hone our writing skills to greater levels.**

**Now first off, for Kitsune's chapter I understand that a couple people had a slight issue with it, one made very good reasons and so I had discussed with Kitsune about it and we came to an agreement with it. This story is a serious one, but there will be moments of laughter and comedy. There will be conflicts and all the above between not just Kurama and Kamina, but Naruto with the people he thought he could trust. For those who know Naruto (seemingly an airhead in canon) in this story is intelligent to an extent, but at the same time is wearing a mask to show his maturity, hostility, and intelligence, that's what Kitsune was trying to do and I thought it was good. As for Kurama and Kamina being friendly last chapter, he wanted to show that they had mutual respect for each other even though they hated one another. He's my partner in this story, we will work on whatever we need and ask for each others help for any ideas whenever we need help for the next chapter either of us has to write. We both take the praise and criticism from all of you, because we are doing this for you guys and if this story become successful then who knows we might do another one!**

**That's all I really wanted to say to you guys, but hopefully you all like last chapter, because this one will be just as good.**

**Kitsunedragon's Note: In addition to Naruto hiding his intelligence and whatnot, I was also trying to convey the fact that Naruto was not properly trained which was why he appeared and was, to an extent, dumbed down. Remember, Naruto is the Kyuubi's Jinchuriki ergo he was denied a proper education in the Academy due to people's hatred towards him (Mizuki being a prime example). Also Kakashi rarely taught him anything, merely a few teamwork exercises and tree climbing and the pinnacle of his learning in pre-shippuden was when he mastered the Rasengan, Summoning Jutsu and Water Walking. Other than that, Naruto was a person who relied purely on instinct and 'on-the-spot' thinking and relied solely on Kagebunshin for the majority of his battles.**

**Let's begin the chapter**

**Chapter 3: Rage of the Storm.**

Anger had boiled into Naruto's mind as he felt the intense rage his begin to stir some of Kurama's chakra inside him. The chakra had become an addiction to his anger in which he had felt the animalistic behaviour come into place, the animal part of him coming at him, filling his mind with the intention and sense that the hunt was afoot. If he couldn't get direct answers from his master, he couldn't get any answers from him at all whatsoever, he was going to shred his face and rip his work to bits.

He never knew nothing, no a damn thing about his family, his heritage, or if there was anyone alive that was even blood related to him. Seeing now that finding out what his heritage was gave him some aspect of happiness, relief, and relief knowing that he wasn't the only Uzumaki. Yet he had come to know that the Sannin had lied to him, he knew who this clan was, the old pervert was around during the second shinobi war! He was the master of Yondaime, student of Sandaime, he would have known who the second jinchurriki of Kurama was!

How much was he lied to? How much was hidden from him? Did the Sandaime know, did Tsunade or Kakashi know? Just how much was lied and hidden from because of his status?!

Naruto snarled as he stomped through the rubble of Uzushiogakure no Sato. His snarl temporarily becoming a deep frown.

_'My home.' _He thought. _'I had a home outside of Konoha, I had family outside of Konoha...and I was kept from it.' _Naruto thought, tears lining his eyes as he realized he was most likely the last of his kind. Though the scroll in his arms had said that some Uzumaki clan members had managed to escape the genocide there was no telling if they were truly alive or not. Naruto wiped the tears away before continuing to his destination. He could feel the rage continue to bubble, preparing to form the first tail before it was reverted back as an aura around him. The anger was coming out in plentiful amounts, though he managed to hold it at bay, only for it so transform into pure rage...and the rage kept on. He continued to walk through the ruins, the voices of Kurama and Kamina arguing in his mind before he snapped at them.

'_Both of you, shut the hell up right now!' _He screamed in his mind before he launched his conscious within his mind as he appearing before them as he stared at Kamina who was growling at Kurama and Kurama doing the same within his cage, the two fox-like beings, though being of opposite races, wanted to rip each other's throats out. The two that were holding a mutual respect and had some amusement with Naruto's week of training were no longer in the premises of Naruto's mind, only two beings that hated each other as one stopped ones chakra from continuing to corrupt the boy and the other at rage from the other's actions.

"What in the hell are you two doing?!" he roared out at the two, "You to are making me even more pissed of!"

"**I'm trying to stop you from using Kurama's chakra, it's too potent and addicting for even you." **Kamina snarled as he held a firm grip on the beast's chakra which was slightly burning him, but at the same time his chakra was affecting Kurama, but not to the same extent. It was simply giving the crimson fox a headache from hell. **"I understand your anger Naruto, but you do not need to let your rage get the best of you, you are not to let this beast let you become consumed by your anger even further than you are now." **Kamina said as he pushed the Bijuu's chakra back.

"The fool deserves it! The pervert had information about the boy's past that he had deserved to know, but kept it hidden about it. How would you feel i fyou had no information of your own family!"Kurama snarled as he looked at the boy, **"I wouldn't have a doubt that Kushina would have felt the same way." **He said giving a slight feral grin before Naruto gave him a glare with his own crimson fox like eyes.

"I may be pissed at Jiraiya...but don't think you have the same right to talk about this Kushina lady or about my family, even if she was your host or not." His crimson eyes were cold as he huffed heavily, "You of all beings should have told me if you knew that woman, but I guess even you don't have the heart to tell a young boy his one wish as he was orphaned and to become pariah by the people who fear you." Naruto said as he turned as he growled deeply before looking back. "I want answers and if I can't get them the easy way, I'll get it the only way possible…by _breaking _them."

"How are you going to do that Naruto, let your rage out of control?" Kamina stared at the young blonde with narrowed eyes, **"It would be pointless to do so, your rage will blind you and even as strong as you think you are, your words are simply that. Words. You're not even at a level to compare yourself to Jiraiya." T**he Raiju told the boy in hopes that the blonde will come to his sense.

The jinchurriki stopped as he looked at the thunder beast with a serious look, "With what I've been taught…even if I'm not at the level of that pervert, I will give him a piece of my mind no matter how many times I fall. I will make him regret lying to me." He slowly faded from his mindscape before leaving parting words, "No more goofing off, no more games, no more childish antics. This time, the mask comes off all the way." He said.

He opened his eyes to see the rocky ruins of the once great village. His crimson eyes were now colder, his whiskers feral, the outlines of his eyes and lips bore a black aggressive nature of that of a fox, and his hair was wild. Yet among all that, his anger was still his own, even with what little of the Kyuubi's chakra was in him at the moment. His chakra fluxed, releasing as he stared out at the campsite that was not to far ahead of him. His eyes narrowed, clenching the scroll in his hand as he walked forward, he was going to get as much information out as possible from the toad sage.

'_You better pray Ero-Sennin…cause your going to feel the wrath of an Uzumaki!' _he yelled in his mind as he marched onwards to the campsite.

_**Naruto and Jiraya's Campsite**_

Jiraya was sitting on the riverside trying to come up with some inspiration for his next novel, Icha Icha Tactics. He sighed as the ideas were found to be lacking.

"Hmmm there are no women to peep on here." He said. His eyes brightened however as he came to realize something.

"Naruto's Orioke no Jutsu! The gaki is a genius for have creating that jutsu. Maybe he'll let me see it again and then I can get some inspiration for the book." He giggled perversely before hearing the snapping of a twig and the rustling of vegetation. His eyes narrowed as he whipped out a kunai and clutched it in a reverse grip in case it was an enemy. He then released a breath of relief when he found that it was his fourteen year old pupil that emerged from the brush.

"Oh, it's just you Naruto. Where'd you get that big scroll? On second thought before you answer, I have something else to ask you, I..."

"URASAI, ERO-SENNIN!" Naruto roared, silencing his sensei. Jiraya raised a curious eyebrow.

"Naruto, what's up with the angry face? Why are you so mad?" He asked. Naruto's eyes flashed crimson and Jiraya took a step back in surprise as he felt the killing intent that shot forth from his blonde disciple.

"Why am I so mad, Ero-Sennin? You want to know why? Well first answer me this...tell me...where are we?" Jiraya blinked in confusion.

"What are you talking about, gaki? We're in Uzu no Kuni." He replied. Naruto stamped the large scroll in his arms on the ground and stared at Jiraya with pure unadulterated rage and there was a hint of betrayal in there as well. Jiraya wondered why Naruto was feeling this way only to be tossed the large scroll.

"Read the last entry." He told his sensei. Jiraya's eyes narrowed at the rude tone his student spoke to him with, but decided to humour the boy. He opened the scroll and skimmed through it before reaching the last entry. As he had reached the last entry he came to realize just why Naruto was so angry with him. He gulped audibly as he read the author of the scroll's final entry before looking up at Naruto whose eyes bore vertical slits for pupils.

"Naruto, I..."

"Now tell me, _Jiraya-sensei_..." Naruto spoke the name of his sensei, venom evident in his tone which caused the older man to wince, "Where...the fuck...are we?"

Jiraiya felt his heart beat faster slightly, guilt coming in as his eyes lowered once he closed his eyes and sighed. He understood the reasons in why Naruto was like this, the betrayal of coming here, not knowing that this was his ancestral home until today. The boy had probably figured that Jiraiya had known and probably felt betrayed by him. He was so right on the point that the boy assumed of his knowing the information he so desperately wished to know. Jiraiya knew so much about his heritage, the Uzumaki clan were his inspiration for using seals before they fell and even afterwards as he grew to become a master, but nothing that will be compared to Kushina or her family members.

The boy was denied so much, he was put through more than what any normal shinobi or human being could ever handle. The isolation, the glares, the insults, all of them would drive any man insane. He was surprised the boy hadn't left the village to live in a different one. However, as much as he wanted to tell the boy he just couldn't bring himself to it. If he told him about his father, he would be hunted down by Iwa ninja, possibly Kumo. He could tell him about his mother, but even still he was worried about what the boy's reaction would be.

"I-I'm sorry Naruto…I just can't" He saw the boys become unmoving, but there was a hint of loathing behind them and he could see it. "I can't tell you yet, not until your ready…" He said calmly

"Oh…so you think I'm not ready to know anything?" Naruto lowered his head as he chuckled ominously as he glared at the white haired man coldly. "What gives you the right to think I'm not ready to know anything when it's my own right to know who my parents were…who my clan members were. To hear you say that I'm not ready? It disgusts me." He said as his eyes darkened, "I'm not some war orphan Jiraiya, I'm the damn host of Kyuubi no Yoko, I'm the Pariah of the village of Konohagakure no Sato, I'm the child who is lashed by everyone because I bear the being who caused the destruction of the village fourteen years ago. If I find knowledge about my clan and someone knows of it, you bet your damn life I'm going to get anything out of person."

Jiraiya slightly narrowed his eyes as he looked at Naruto, no matter how much the blonde's words had hurt, to say a threat that he couldn't back up was cocky and arrogant on the blonde's part.

"So you're going to try to force information out of me?" the large man smirked at the boy's serious look. "What make's you think you can? I'm one of the Sannin, I've trained the Yondaime Hokage to become what he was. I'm on par with a kage, what make's a _genin _like you think you have what it takes to face me?" He said

Naruto slightly smirked upon the the middle aged man's words. "Well as the ninja code says.." He disappeared into a burst of speed and Jiraya's eyes widened as the blonde came right in front of him with his fist already reared back for a punch.

"Look underneath the underneath" he said as his fist had connected to Jiraiya's forearm, which the older man had raised to block the strike. He launched another first as he rapidly punched the Sannin's forearms with heavy hits.

**[Drown you out by Crossfade]**

Jiraiya was slightly surprised the blonde's burst of speed, with the weights and seals on him he should have slowed down to a low chunin speed or high genin speed. However, seeing now that his speed was still at a high chunin level speed. His hits, though were of rage, were strong on their own accord as well, about a low chunin or near mid chunin. His attacks were slow though due to the heavy baggage on him.

_'He must have been hiding his full skill from me, with the with weights off, he must be around a mid jonin level speed. Compared to his fight with Neji he only brought this kind of speed with Kyuubi's chakra. This though...this is all him…but why hide it?' _he thought.

Jiraiya noticed the blonde's leg come at him from the side and he grabbed it with ease before he threw the blonde a great distance back. Naruto slammed on the ground once, but quickly leaped back as he skidded a few yards on his feet. He snarled as he made a hand sign. The cross-shaped handsign for his signature jutsu.

_**"Kagebunshin no Jutsu!"**_ He had summoned ten clones. The blonde looked at Jiraiya with narrowed eyes and then knelt down as he looked at his clones and sent them out to go. The ten clones prepared their kunai as all of them charged at the white haired ninja. They all rushed out, scattered as three jumped into the air, two slid on the ground aiming at the Sannin's legs and the remaining half prepared a frontal assault. Jiraiya gasped at the ones descending and quickly grabbed the closest one. He then jumped back, bunshin in hand, in order to avoid the strikes from the other nine kagebunshins. As he landed, he grabbed the captive clone's wrist and he took the kunai away from him. Throwing it at one of the charging ones, he impaled it through the skull causing it to poof out of sight. As he did that he held the kagebunshin he had captive and threw it back at another one of the clones sending the two rolling on the ground. He then quickly ducked beneath a punch from another airborne bunshin. He then twisted to catch the clone by the ankle since it had overshot its target and with amazing strength, the white haired shinobi launched the doppelganger towards the two of its brethren that Jiraya had knocked aside earlier, hitting the other two directly leaving them to explode into a cloud of smoke upon impact.

As the other six came he quickly flashed through handsigns and slammed his hand on the ground before they could come any further.

_**" Doton: Yomi Numa!" **_Soon the earthly ground collapsed onto the clones causing them to fall into an adhesive mud-like substance that was similar to quicksand. As they continued to move around, they groaned as they all exerted too much chakra as some had disappeared while the remainder of the clone strike force had sunk into the mud before dispersing themselves.

Naruto's eyes slightly narrowed as he had received the memory from his clones and closed his eyes. This was going to take more than he anticipated, but just from his clones' memories he had a few strategies devised within his mind. Jiraiya using that doton had cost a frontal assault to become useless except for a few feet in front of the toad sage. Naruto opened his eyes once more and grunted before summoning forty clones around him.

"Ten of you, go in front" he muttered. The command proceeded as ten of the clones began the assault and they charged toward the Sannin member. Naruto looked over at twelve of his clones nearest to him and quickly told them the first plan. He heard multiple poofs as his first ten clones died out leaving an unharmed Jiraiya. He smirked slightly as he instructed another eighteen to rush out. The large group headed out as they all held out their hands mid-sprint. Chakra and wind swirled into a single compact orb of rapidly rotating chakra.

He had mastered the Rasengan with a clone in one week, why couldn't he do the same when performing, and mastering it, with one hand?

As the multitude of Rasengans stabilized in their hands, they jumped over the swamp as they dove towards the long haired man.

Jiraiya made a couple hand signs before clapping his hands together.

_**" Ninpo: Hari Jizo!" **_His long hair lengthened to even greater lengths and then wrapped around his body. Every single hair follicle became charged with chakra, sharpening the strands as they shot outward like porcupine quills, hitting several of the aerial clones which all had dispersed. A plume of smoke indicating they had indeed disappeared.

He stared at Naruto and frowned, "You're going to have to try a lot harder to get me to talk gaki…" he paused in his speech before he noticed something completely off with the Kagebunshin army. Last he had checked there was twelve clones plus Naruto in front of him, now there was only three.

_'Where did the other ten go?'_ He thought.

His eyes widened as he heard the ground crumble below him as a clone shot upward from the rocky earth, it's fist aiming up at Jiraiya's chin. The Sannin moved a foot back, dodging the rising fist and quickly raising his leg up, he slammed it into the clone's ribs sending it into the distance as it exploded into smoke upon impacting with a tree. He quickly heard multiple sounds of burrowing from the ground as four clones from each side of him launched out of the ground preparing to bring hell to the Gama Sennin. Jiraiya shifted into a stance with his palms positioned at his hips and his right leg placed behind his left.

Twisting his body at the hip, he lashed out with a palm strike, resulting in him face palming one of the clones. He then spun around and slammed his elbow into the stomach of another kagebunshin. Back flipping, the Sannin member avoided the double axe kick strike from the other two that had emerged from the ground as members of the four-man underground assault. Jiraya then landed in a handstand as he saw the clones continue their charge. Showing great skill, Jiraya parried away their punches and kicks with his legs and feet alone. A two punch assault aimed for his spine was formed, but Jiraya once again parried the blows, sending them to either side of him. After that, he began to rotate on his hands, lashing out with a brutal whirlwind of kicks to the clones' skulls. The first three consecutive kicks already bringing an end to the stronger clones.

Sensing movement near him, Jiraya stopped spinning and bent his arms at the elbow so that he would be able to push off. As he did that, he twisted in midair and performed two straight kicks. Each kick hitting a single clone in the face. As those two clones dispersed, the white haired man took out a kunai and collided his blade with another kagebunshin's. He then moved aside the shorter male in order to duck beneath the diving clone that aimed to crash into his skull, stabbing said clone in the stomach as it appeared overhead. As he did that, he kicked the kunai wielding clone in the stomach before throwing his kunai at it, impaling it through the chest. As the clones died, Jiraya noticed one more clone came out of the ground. Only this time with a rasengan in hand. The clone was only a few feet from the elite shinobi, his chakra sphere reared back and he thursted it forward aiming it directly at the man's sternum.

Jiraia narrowed his eyes at the closeness of the sphere, only being a few mere inches from his chest. Though his eyes could see the ball clear as day, the boy was fast, but he had to be a lot faster to provoke him to such an extent. He raised his arm and snuck it within the kagebunshin's guard before striking the Rasengan holding arm, diverting the attack. The clone's eyes widened as it neared the ground only for Jiraya to grab it and turn it around so it faced him once more.

The white haired sage grabbed the clone's wrist as he shifted the attack towards the clone's gut, reversing the rasengan completely as it shredded the clone's flesh. In a plume of smoke, the kagebunshin was defeated.

He raised his head as he looked back, the boy was using tactics with his clones to see what weak spots were open and thus when the time was right he would send out the clones that were hidden after the others failed to do so. This was nothing like he had seen from Naruto after noticing the boy's personality. The boy was dumb, but was that all a farce, a façade to simply let people believe he was this dumb boy, who in truth was intelligent in his own way. For a slight moment he had regretted not properly training the boy right if he was actually like this as well as learning battle tactics. The sound of feet rushing came to his ears as he turned back seeing the boy and his clones coming to battle. What battle strategy had he planned this time?

Blue eyes with vertical slits for pupils burned with anger as a blondes rushed out towards Jiraiya and they shot into the air. Just as Jiraiya came to prepare himself for the battle, his eyebrows rose in surprise as the clones smirked. They made a simply hand sign, the basic ninjutsu sign for 'ram'. Smoke enveloped them and then from out of the clouds came three near naked blonde females.

_**" Oiroke no Jutsu" **_the clones said as they winked at Jiraiya, causing the white haired man to go wide eyed and have a bloody nose. The distraction had succeeded as the clone narrowed its eyes launching a deadly kick into Jiraiya's face sending the man falling backwards. The clone disappeared in smoke and within that smoke was a glowing blue light which blew the smoke away as a sexy clone had completed forming a rasengan into the female transformed Naruto's hand which closed in at Jiraiya's sternum.

"_**Oiroke Rasengan!" **_Naruto said, slamming the jutsu into Jiraiya as the man fell back. The jutsu caused an explosion as it laid a large amount of smoke and debris in the area. Naruto came out, no longer in his female transformation as he landed across from the blast sight just a few yards away. He studied the smoke pile, waiting, he knew that the attack wouldn't take down Jiraiya. The man wasn't a Sannin for nothing. He was a kage level ninja, a powerhouse. A simple technique like that wouldn't defeat him. It was only a few brief moments before Jiraiya's shadow stood in the debris, once it cleared up it showed the man with little to no harm on him, his clothes, namely the chest area, had a circular hole in it from the Rasengan with a noticeable swirl shaped burn mark there as well while the rest of his attire had only a little amount of tearing.

His eyes showed a hard exterior to them as he frowned at Naruto.

"Okay, if that's how you want to play Naruto then I will do that, but you're going to regret it, Naruto." This was no easy Jiraiya, this was the man who was going to give the boy his just desserts. He made hand signs as he inhaled air into his lungs.

_**"" Katon: Endan!" **_A large fireball shot out from the mans mouth as it hurtled towards the blonde shinobi.

Our favourite blonde's eyes widened slightly as he rushed many yards back to avoid the oncoming attack, preparing to dodge to his left. Though he felt heat coming towards that side as he looked quickly and noticed a second fireball on it way toward him. A slight brink of panic entered Naruto as he gritted his teeth.

"**Naruto!" **Kamina called out from within his mind as he raised his eyes, **"Manipulate the wind around you in a counter clockwise direction, it will become a vacuum in the air and absorb the oxygen from the flames, do it now!" **the Raiju yelled.

Naruto quickly doing as he told felt the wind around his hands and felt it quickly spinning. He maneuvered it a little as he could feel it reversing into the opposite direction. Once the flames drew close enough he pressed his hands onto the flames, his hands feeling the heat, but luckily not being burned from the fires as the swirling winds in his hand quickly absorbed the both of the fireballs' oxygen, killing the attacks in an instant. The blonde grunted a little as he shook a little, he wasn't used to manipulating the storm elements yet, but he was getting the hang of it.

He saw Jiraiya giving a surprised look, a slight grin came upon his face as he wiped sweat from his brow.

"How did you do that?" Jiraiya asked, hoping to get an answer from his godson. It was unnatural for someone to do that unless they had a great grasp of fire manipulation, though it seemed like it was wind that was coming from the flames, yet wind was fire's opposite, the wind would strengthen flames to such a great extent. Yet the wind had killed the flames. Did the blonde have a great grasp wind elemental manipulation and keep it a secret?

Naruto closed his eyes as he began to channel some of his chakra into his hand, lightning chakra had formed into a spherical shape in his hand. Once he closed his hand a sword of lightning the length of his arm came into view. His eyes opened once more as they became serious, a coldness to them. He pointed the lightning sword at his sensei and frowned.

"If you want to know, you're going to tie me and sit my ass on the ground if you want what's coming out of my mouth." Naruto said as he rushed out swinging the kodachi length blade of lightning at the white haired man, coming at him with his attacks aiming at areas to disable the man such as the joints or nerve areas to cause temporary paralysis. Each strike came smooth and quick, yet all were dodged. Once Naruto drew in close, it soon became he greatest mistake as the back of Jiraiya's hand smacked across Naruto's face, sending the blonde to the ground a few feet from him and quickly stopped the lightning chakra natured sword from the boy's hands.

Naruto grunted as he slowly got up, but he was grabbed by his hair as he was picked up and hanging almost two feet in the air. He grunted as he swung his feet around and growled shifting his body around as he stared at Jiraiya with angry eyes. Eyes that had quickly returned to their crimson state. He received a quick punch from the Sennin and gasped out in pain, feeling a few of his ribs pop from the pressure of the blow. A second blow came and Naruto could feel that his ribs were greatly bruised up from the pressure of the second punch, his stomach much have been too due to the slight amount of blood coming from his mouth. Three blows overall had left his body sore and in pain.

This was Jiraya's strength and Naruto felt he wasn't even going all out for his sake and the man's own.

Naruto could feel Kyuubi's healing come through, but it wasn't coming as quick as it should be when he gained extra amounts of the beast's chakra. Perhaps it was still due to Kamina restraining his chakra. He had to make this quick and fast, he could see Jiraya coming for a fourth punch, but Naruto quickly reacted as he put chakra into his finger tips which they slowly manipulated into sharp claws. He slashed at Jiraiya's forearm causing to let the man release the grip on his hair as four vertical slash marks came onto his arm that was wounded.

'_Now's my chance' _Naruto leaped a few yards back, building up chakra in his body. He raised his hands up as he put his hands together and slowly the chakra was coming into his hands. He had a week of training from Kamina and honing his skills on his taijutsu, he wasn't going to give up without pulling out one of his few new tricks.

Kamina could feel the gathering of Naruto's chakra and widened slightly at the feeling and looked around.

"**Naruto, are you crazy you foolish boy!" **slammed his fist into the ground of Naruto's mindscape. **"You don't have control of that technique yet, you're always out of sync with it. Do you not realize the repercussions in doing that attack will do! It will backlash!" **He told the boy from within his mind, **"What makes you think a week of manipulation and learning the basics of that move will make you completely control it!"**

Naruto focused the energy in his hands and gave a slight chuckle, _'Kamina, you're in my mind, you've seen my memories…you should know well enough by now that I'm a ninja who is unpredictable, one who takes things beyond the limit' _his hands glowed a slight blue hue as he grinned _'I make the impossible absolutely possible!'_

"_**Raiju Arc: Shotengekiha!" **_He yelled as he sent his hands into a downward motion which came to a halt near his chest. An abrupt power had surged through the blonde's hands as blue wind, mixed with lightning came out of the intertwined hands, the azure tornado charged forward toward the legendary toad sage as it grew slightly larger and the rotation speed began to increase.

Jiraiya's eyes widened as he saw the attack come with great speed. He could feel the power of chakra emanating from the attack and he knew it was a dangerous attack, a high B-ranked Jutsu, probably A-ranked. He pulled out a sheet of paper that had the kanji for_ 'Barrier'_ on it. He threw it in front of him as he made hand signs.

_**" Fuinjutsu: Chakra Kekkai!" **_His chakra pushed into the seal as it surrounded it like a dome. As the attack struck the defensive fuuinjutsu, a large shockwave formed at the point of impact. Slight cracks appeared on the barrier before the attack died down leaving the barrier looking like it had just been on the verge of shattering.

**[Song End]**

Jiraiya made haste as he gathered more chakra into the barrier the cracks slowly reverting away and leaving the barrier as if it was brand new. He held a deep thought in his mind as he the attack slowly began to die down.

_'I've never seen an attack like that one before, it was as if it was a collaboration jutsu, but even if it was one it would be impossible for one person to do so by himself.' _He looked over to the blonde as he released the barrier and put the piece of paper back into his pouch. _'How did he get such a technique, was it a lost art from the Uzumaki? Did he find a scroll which held that technique?' S_o many things didn't add up now in the man's mind.

Naruto panted softly as he felt his chakra recede back into his body, he took a step forward before dropping down to one knee. He was breathing heavily this time as he looked at Jiraiya.

_'I was in sync…but I didn't have proper control of using what amount of chakra to use, it caused me to exert out more than I should have put out.' _the blonde thought as he tried to get up, though his body grew weaker and began to give up on him, wanting rest.

_'Kuso' _the curse word was the last thought on his mind before falling face first onto the ground roaming into a deep sleep.

Kamina chuckled in the boys mind as it died down before saying a few words to the boy in his sleeping state. **"I guess you are indeed unpredictable boy…I guess you are more interesting than you make up to be."**

Jiraiya walked over to the boy and stared upon the sleeping blonde. He sighed softly as he grabbed him with his uninjured arm by the waist and carried him up towards the camp, their battle having resulted in them moving away from it. His eyes furrowed as he was lost in deep thought, the boy was deeply angry, fighting him had proved it, all in order to force what he could get out of Jiraiya. The blonde shinobi had every right to be mad, and he was going to bring hell once he was awake which Jiraiya knew well if this boy had all of his mother's traits in him. The white haired man knew whether he liked it or not, it was time for the blonde to know about his heritage, his mother's side for now. He knew though that after this Naruto wouldn't be the same around him, nor would he have such trust in him either. And that was going to be the hard part to bare during the next year and nine months.

XxXxXxX

_**Six hours later**_

Within his mind, Naruto had stirred as he opened his eyes. Feeling tired, but refreshed after burning majority of his chakra into one attack. He groaned as he rubbed his head. Glancing around he settled his gaze upon Kamina as the Raiju gave him a slightly worried look, but at the same time a stern look as well as if from a teacher or parent disappointed in a child's actions. Naruto closed his eyes and got up as he stared up at the fox hybrid deity and lowered his head.

"I know, you told me not to use any of the abilities of the Raiju arc, even using that attack." Naruto quickly looked up as he frowned, "Though you don't know what it is like, I don't know who my parents are! Yet when I find that I had family here I was ecstatic, but mad because they were all gone or most of them at least and that people in Konoha, no, most of the older shinobi knew that I had family and denied telling me anything. I've been robbed by my right to know who my family was." He said.

Kamina stared at Naruto and lowered his head down to the boys level, **"I know boy, I know very well. I've seen many things in all my life, I've lived longer than many creatures on this planet. Possibly more than 2000 humans combined and I've seen the damage and the pain that all humans have done to one another during the shinobi era, you aren't the only one who felt such loss and betrayed by his own people he believed in. I'm not the only immortal who has seen this. While few of us there are, we are still here watching over in silence and while the majority of us do not intervene, I felt it was time that I do so" **He said to the blonde.

Naruto lowered his eyes in disappointment as he sighed, "Yeah..but I screwed up big time, I didn't take heed to your words and I couldn't control myself into using the attack." He said. Kamina's large hand pressed onto Naruto's head as he gave a slight grin.

**"I know I'm not making a mistake in putting my trust in your power or yourself. You have good in you boy, but you need to listen to me when it comes to controlling your power, otherwise if I wasn't sure I wouldn't have given you your bloodline and I would have not came across you if your actions weren't true to your words." **the beast stood upright and looked down upon the human boy. **"Never doubt yourself Naruto, your faith is always stronger than your anger and with your faith and actions of positive nature you will no doubt change anyone you come across and change the future of the shinobi nations." **He said to Naruto.

Naruto smiled at the Raiju's words before he shook his head and began looking around. "By the way, why isn't Kyuubi saying anything, you two either make fun of me, chat discreetly, or argue with each other."

"**Oh, the runt?" **Kamina looked over to the cage, seeing the crimson orange fox sleep heavily in his cage as his ears twitched slightly. **"Kurama went to sleep right after you passed out, he was bored seeing that your little dispute between you and your master had come to an end, aside from that he was getting a headache from my chakra conflicting with his own." **Kamina said.

Naruto snickered in return got a low sleeping growl from Kurama and looked back at Kamina. "So, what am I going to tell Jiraiya...he's going to want some answers from me after using _**shotengekiha **_on him."

"**Simple, tell him" **Naruto widened his eyes slightly, **"There's no more point in denying him the truth anymore, just as much as there is no point in denying the real you. This façade is going to have to end with being a half ass moron. It's time for people to accept responsibility for you as well as yourself to accept you for whom you really are." **Kamina smirked, **"As long as you make things easy for them, they'll ust get away with doing things, you need to take charge with life and push forward, serious action will push your drive in being the strongest at the same time making life as enjoyable as possible." **he told Naruto. **"Take this advice from an ancient being older than the Kyuubi, I have much wisdom to offer."**

"As much as perverted antics?" Naruto asked receiving narrowed eyes in return

"**Don't tempt me, Naruto" **he said, lightning flickering around his form. Naruto chuckled nervously as the Raiju raised his hand. **"Now wake up." **Naruto blinked in confusion as Kamina flicked him on the forehead. However, the force behind the finger flick was similar to the one when he was hit by Tsunade, damn that woman hits hard, and he was forced out of his mindscape and thus awakening him into reality.

Naruto had jumped from the place in which he had awoken upon. The fresh heat of a campfire came and made his body felt like an oven roasted turkey. He grunted as he arched his back a little to sit up more comfortably. It was early morning, still somewhat dark out, but the sunrise was coming into play very soon. He looked back into the fire and then looked over to see Jiraiya, still awake. The man's eyes weren't tired, but his eye lids were slightly droopy. The man seemed to have been in that same position for hours from deep thought and watching the blonde. It was kind of creeping out Naruto slightly, but the thought let go as his eyes furrowed at the man.

While he wasn't as freshly angry as he was hours ago, it didn't mean that the anger wasn't gone. No it was still there, kicking about like sparks in a dying flame which waited to die out or burn once more.

"Naruto…" the white haired man paused as he closed his eyes and did the one thing that Naruto thought that he would do in his life. The man had bowed his head to the blonde, "I'm sorry, I should have told you from the start about your heritage…I felt it wasn't time for you to know of such knowledge until you were of proper shinobi ranking, though seeing your skills as it is I wouldn't doubt that you've earned the knowledge as of now" Jiraiya said.

Naruto raised his eyes a little in surprise, quickly lowering them once more as he frowned," That's no excuse and it's not going to make things easier on you." He said as he looked at the man, "I had the right to know such things from the day I was _born, _no one had the right to take that knowledge away from me, making me feel like I had nothing to begin with." He said.

"That's not true" Jiraiya looked up at him as he slowly sat down once more, "If you had nothing to begin with, as of now I see a lot of things that you had. You have much of your mother's personality, her anger for example. Yet the more I see that serious look upon your face it makes me see the face of your father as if he was prepared for battle with nothing to lose. You had your parents in you the entire time even if they left you in the saddest way possible."

Naruto's eyes were more focused in, calm and collective as he stared at the man. So the man did know his parents, but the way he said it made it clear that they were dead. "You must have known my parents well to get a grasp of such details from just seeing me."

"Of course, they had made me your godfather after all" He said receiving a cold glare from the boy, he frowned a bit, "I know you are mad about that, but you must understand that I am a shinobi, a powerful one that has a duty to his village. I'm a master spy with high amounts of information that is important for the Hokage to know and for the safety of the village. As much I wanted to try and raise you I couldn't put you in that risk as a child while I'm gathering intelligence" he said.

"Yet you could have taken me with you at a young age and trained me. You're my fucking godfather, you are supposed to have some damn responsibility to take care of me!" The blonde narrowed his eyes, "Or at least came by to let me know who you were." Naruto turned to face the crackling flames of the campfire.

"I couldn't do three things at once Naruto, I can't train and raise you while I'm gathering information on Orochimaru and the Akatsuki organization that he was once in to ensure that your life isn't at risk. " He told the blonde as he waved his hand briefly, "I did take some responsibility, I bought that apartment complex for you for example when you were at a decent age, paid the rent of your home as old man Sarutobi gave you an monthly allowance which half came from me and half came from your parents from when they died and passed down their money, scrolls, and items down to you."

Naruto was quiet for a moment as he gave in thought. It seemed the pervert actually did do something for him even if he wasn't there for him for the majority of his life. He was also getting some of his heritage to him money wise at least. Yet that wasn't satisfying to him, not in the least.

"I suppose I have to thank you and Jiji for that…though that doesn't help that the fact you knew my parents and never told me." He said as he pointed at the man, "So start by tell me who my parents, my family...everything."

Jiraiya sighed as he closed his eyes, opening his black eyes to stare at the cold azure blue ones. "Alright then…though after this you better tell me everything as well, that power for starters." He said.

"In my opinion, I wouldn't tell jack squat for keeping this kind of thing from me since this seems like the situation where I DESERVE to know about my heritage with no bartering whatsoever...however seeing as how you give me no choice..." Naruto sighed, rubbing his temples as he looked at the fire and Jiraya swore for a moment, that he looked older, more like his father.

"Fine, I'll start without wasting anymore time then" Naruto quickly replied as he frowned, "I've been putting a damn mask on, everything that you thought about me being hyperactive and dumb was just a façade. I have high amounts of stamina, but my intelligence is something tricky, while my intelligence was limited due to my ostracized past as being what I am I was a trickster in some ways, a good hint for example is my knack for pranks. I figured that I would make people think I was dumb, that I was reckless in order for me to get accepted as at least the village idiot so I can be accepted more. In which case it had cost me being stuck in the academy for three years, failing three times, but it was worth it I suppose. While some people had accepted me before, I wanted to know people I wasn't something god fearing. If I became a shinobi too early it would have gave them a little more fear, I'm not the type of person to use such a tactic against people."

The blonde grimaced in disgust, "Yet at the same time it had cost me the lack of training from Kakashi, it made me an easy target for Sakura to try and take a hit on me, and it also cost me to lose to Sasuke at the Valley of the End. If I wasn't playing dumb, none of those things would have happened."

Jiraiya was surprised to say the least, the boy had played a major wild card in his life and it was perfect for a shinobi skill, masking his true person, his true goal. He was a genius at hiding his intelligence and maturity, he took the ninja code to the exact level as it should be, as it was many years ago during the time Minato was a major leading role in the third shinobi war, and from those who took big parts in the second and first war as history puts forth.

"That's quite…impressive, mostly anbu can do that, yet you've been doing it for god knows how many years." he rubbed his head before looking back at the kid. "What about that collaboration jutsu, or that chakra sword in your hand?"

"Oh, right…" Naruto sighed, shaking his head before he looked at him. "Remember about almost two weeks ago when we were in that hotel, you asked me if I was hurt because a lightning stuck by the shoreline?" Jiraiya nodded at the question, "Well, that wasn't lightning…it was a Raiju."

Silence had consumed the area before Jiraiya gave out a barking laughter and fell backwards. Naruto sighed as ran his fingers through his hair. _'I knew something like that was going to happen somehow in my mind.'_

"**I don't find his laughter amusing" **Kamina barked out in annoyance.

Jiraiya leaned forward once more holding his laughter in once it receded inside him, "So you're telling me…that a thunder beast came down to you from lightning?"

"Well he's not technically gone per say, he's more of the lines of inside my mind right now. He came inside my body by lightning and well, he's in there with Kyuubi." Naruto simply said.

Now Jiraiya was taking this seriously, hearing that It came down to him was one thing, but being in his mind was another. He had never even heard about thunder beasts being real until now, they were only supposed to be a myth! The pet of Raijin, the follower of Raiden, all of those things ran through his mind. It sounded like a complete farce, but then again there were bijuu, unnatural beasts of chakra, but hearing that a real Raiju was inside the blonde ninja was just so much to process.

"Alright…Raiju. In your mind. Okay.." he rubbed his temples, "So if he is in your mind, then how can you use lightning and wind?"

"Well, he said that my chakra was unique to him, that's why he came inside my mind, because of my unique heritage he gave me a bloodline. A bloodline to manipulate the elements of storms. I think that's lightning and wind, he says sometimes water, but that depends whether you're by any water landmarks or regions Kamina tells me." Naruto said "The reason he's still inside me was so that he could train me to completely master the bloodline so I could get a full grasp of its power."

Jiraiya furrowed his eyes, processing everything he had heard. He would have to trust Naruto on his word alone, as well as the attack he had produced not long ago. He would have to find someway to make contact with the Raiju somehow unless he would wait until they got back to Konoha to check Naruto for any mental disorders such as schizophrenia most likely, if he was hallucinating about some deity in his head and giving him powers. Though Naruto never lied to him and it felt so real now to know.

"I suppose he also gave you some ideal taijutsu skills to train with?" he asked the blonde.

Now that one Naruto would have to lie about. No offense to the fox, but Naruto would not hear the end of it from his godfather if he had got two different taijutsu's from the Kyuubi's memories. Too much of an annoying situation if that were to be in fact be the case.

"Yes, he said I'm a speed type, most of my skill sets rely on my agility, speed, and with my lean build, I can move faster and thus, strike harder. So he gave me two that would benefit me more than it would him." Naruto lied as he wanted to cut to the chase. He was giving a lot of information as it was and it was irritating him for him not to get all the answers that he wanted to hear. "Alright, enough about that, I told you everything I know, now get it on with what I to hear from you."

Jiraiya exhaled some air, much of the information he had gotten from the boy proved to have some worth. At least the boy was getting proper training from one other person, or mythical thunder beast in this case, than himself. It would be up to the man to teach Naruto fuuinjutsu before the boy would become a master on his own, and in addition to chakra training, resistance training and a little bit of ninjutsu before they came home. Half of the things Jiraiya needed to do were basically in the hands of Naruto's friend. Jiraiya had grabbed a stick and then began to draw on the sandy earth showing three symbols, a fan, a spiral, and a symbol that resembled a forest.

"For starters let me give you a brief detail I suppose. Before the elemental nations came to full existence there were two clans that were great rivals, the Senju and the Uchiha, they were also considered to be one of the oldest clans of all the Elemental nations aside from two other clans, the Hyuga and the Uzumaki." He began to draw a circle around the three symbols. "So far, from what I can tell, was that the Uzumaki clan, the Senju clan, and the Uchiha clan are very close to each other, close meaning that they might have had a closer relationship in the past as far as I know of. However, blood wise the Uzumaki clan and Senju clan are distant cousins of one another, though different, they hold quite the same amount of blood."

"So I'm related to Baa-chan in a sense…" Naruto cut in as he frowned, another reason ro be irritated at people's lack of honest. He had a feeling he was going to be irritated even more. "Does she know?"

"Most likely, she knew your mother, so it's obvious that you're cousins. Her grandfather was the Shodaime Hokage, her grand uncle was the Nidaime. Though her grandmother, the wife of Hashirama Senju was also an Uzumaki, as well as the first jinchurriki of the Kyuubi no Yoko." He said to Naruto as he saw the blonde's wide reaction. "Not many knew that, but old man Sarutobi gave me information on past Jinchurriki for the sake of getting any information on what it would be like if you had control of Kyuubi's chakra. Though I think telling you that you should wait until you are more prepared, more trained. Out of you and the other Jinchurriki, Mito Uzumaki was the only one who had full control over the Kyuubi chakra, before she died during the transfer process to make a new Jinchurriki." He said.

"To Kushina Uzumaki…" Naruto thought for a moment as he spoke, "Were there any other Uzumaki in Konoha other than her?"

"Aside from herself, no, from what little information we could gather quite few of the transport boats had survived the onslaught from Kumo and Kiri, while most of the veteran shinobi including the leader of the village fought to protect the homeland. It was a long fight, but as you can see this was the result." Saying to Naruto as he looked around the ruined village. "Far as I know, the clans that resided in the village and the handful of surviving Uzumaki had either went to the other major villages, changing their names, otherwise being scattered across the lands forgetting their clan legacy. Kushina was no more than seven years old when she came to Konoha, your mother was became the second jinchurriki after shortly coming."

Naruto lowered his eyes and closed his eyes, he figured that Kushina would have been his mother. It sounded so obvious, but he didn't want to simply accept that his mother was Jinchurriki as well, it hurt to know the outcome.

"As I said before, Uzumakis are well known for their high stamina or longevity you could say as well as their mastery of fuuinjutsu. Your mother was chosen to become the next host because Uzumakis had long lives, so holding the Kyuubi long periods of time kept people at ease for those who knew. Also that she possessed unique chakra, her chakra was able to suppress the chakra such as a tailed beast as powerful as Kyuubi. Yet even as a Jinchurriki that never brought her down, it made her stronger. "the old sage smiled slightly, "the more I see your hyperactivity, the more I see her in you, just as well as the amount of stamina you carry. Your chakra itself is large even for an Uzumaki, because you are a child of a jinchurriki, but holding Kyuubi inside you give you much more chakra than even before. Alone, you could have Kage level reserves by the time we are done with your training." he said.

Naruto gave a slight nod in understanding what he had meant. of course being a jinchurriki it gave him shitty chakra control, but adding that he was the child of one made things annoy him. Though he didn't mind, he was getting stronger because of it, it was thanks to his mother. Yet it made things dwell in his Naruto's mind.

"A jinchurriki can't survive an extraction…so I think she's not here." He gave a sad smile, "I want to know though…was I worth her sacrifice? Being born I mean?"

"Your mother had a strong seal on her, but a female jinchurrik has a great weakness at one point of life, Naruto...and that is child birth. It risks the release of the tailed beast during the time a female jinchuriki goes into labour, so a seal master is there to make sure the seal is stabilized as the birthing comes into place. I don't know what happened, but the day you were born was the day Kyuubi was released, so I'm not sure if her seal failed or if she died during labor. But I do know this, Naruto." He told the boy as he gave a soft smile, "That woman loved you more than anything, hell whenever I came to visit her and your father she would always talk to you when you kicked or when you seemed restless in that fat belly of her." he laughed, though it quickly died down. "If anything, her and your father's sacrifice to bring you to this world was more than worth it, because they loved you very much to the very end." He said.

Naruto smirked at that, "So my Kaa-chan was a Jinchurriki and my Tou-san, a Kage…I think I can deal with it." Naruto shrugged, "I suppose they did it for a _good _reason."

"Well of cou…." Jiraiay stopped as his eyes went wide, popping out of their sockets as his eyes gazed upon the boy. "H-how did you know?" He asked, his question followed by the sputtering of his lips as he tried to comprehend how he managed to figure out his father's identity from all that.

"Ero-Sennin, I'm blonde, not stupid, no matter how I acted before. There are many reasons I knew just by guessing." He held out four fingers and curled them down by order as he spoke the reasons. "One; you said you knew both my Kaa-chan and Tou-san and knowing that you know the only blonde with my kind of hair colour and style is the Yondaime Hokage. Two; he's the only seal master other than you and Kaa-chan that was in the village, though you weren't there so it was up to him to the seal checkups. Three; the Yondaime Hokage sealed Kyuubi in me, I don't think he would be heartless to put it in a family or orphan child, it would have to be someone who was there, someone close. Lastly; it was feeling ironic if the fact that Kaa-chan married Yondaime just as Mito married the Shodaime." He said getting up and patting his pants to get debris off.

Jriaiya simply blinked, stunned at the notion of reasons that his godson had put out. While remarkable, it was rare for such things to cross anyone mind. If anyone had thought like the boy just did, then everyone in the village would have saw him as was meant to be; a hero. Though life doesn't seem to go that way and it was sad to realize that, but Jiraiya saw that Naruto would make a path for people to see things like that as clear as day.

'Maybe..this kid is who I am looking for…' he thought before noticing the blond leaving the campsite. The large man got up and looked at Naruto's back as he walked off. "Where do you think you're going gaki?" he asked.

Naruto simply shrugged and waved his hand, "I'm going back to the ruin vault, I'm going to gather as much of everything in that room and seal them in storage scrolls. I feel it's my birthright to claim it just as much as it's my right to claim this my home…that way history will never erase the Uzumaki clan and people will know that there are still remnants of the dead clan here today." Naruto look back as he smirked, "I'm making it my goal just as much as becoming Hokage and bringing duck ass home. I'm going to rebuild the Uzumaki clan, whether I have a family in the future, if I adopt anyone in, or even if I find other Uzumaki like me. I will bring them to Konoha and when we flourish once more they will come back here and rebuild, thus beginning the cycle of the Whirlpool once more."

Naruto stopped before he looked back upon Jiraiya and smirked, "And when I come back, there will be no more distractions, no more going easy. I want to put my training to the fullest in order to become strong for myself and those I care for and to show that I am not the Kyuubi, but I am myself. I am Uzumaki Naruto, no one else."

XxXxXxX

_**Three months later**_

Waves moved through the ocean current past a ferry. The cool misty air seemed to keep the temperatures of early spring around the low fifties around the ocean. Naruto was leaning on the rail of the ship, his hair slightly longer in length, he was about a few inches taller as well, growing from 5'1 to 5'6. His muscle mass had built up a somewhat as his biceps and triceps showed some slight tone definition in them and some of the baby fat from his face had burned off.

The blonde was wearing new threads compared to his jumpsuit. He wanted to honor his heritage, his family by wearing the Uzumaki standar shinobi outfit, though he made some slight changes to them. He wore a sleevless black and teal shirt with a black bandana around his neck with a red Uzumaki symbol showing. He also had a set of black pants and black sandals on to mach his gear. On his back was a kodachi in which he found untouched in the vault hidden within many of the clothing and scrolls. The blade was black within a black sheathe with the handle longer than a normal short sword. On the side of his pants were two kunai pouches, each holding a slim large black kunai meant for close range long term battles and smaller ones for range.

Overall, in the three months, his training was greatly worth it, but he still had much to go for. Most of his training with Jiraiya was honing his physical attributes, strength, chakra control, speed, and agillty which was still going with almost double the amount he had before. Along with learning fuuinjutsu and learning a couple of ninjutsu. He had become an expert in a short time and he had begun learning his affinities for the start of his elemental ninjutsu training. Surprisingly he had an affinity for wind as his primary element with lightning and fire as a secondary. He had asked Kamina why he never had water, all the Raiju could say was that Kyuubi's affinity had over powered his other secondary affinity.

Though it didn't bother Naruto much, while Jiraiya had taught him a couple Katon jutsu, Naruto had learned two Raiton and Futon jutsu from the scrolls left in the vault. He was thankful for that since he when he had learned more about his heritage he had found that most of the Uzumaki clan bore a water affinity with earth or lightning as secondary. They had little Katon users in the village which was surprising to know since quite a lot of people held a Katon.

Other than his training with Jiraiya, his training with Kamina had gotten him to great levels. He was able to sync in with his manipulation with wind and lightning and learn three of the ten attacks he was to learn for his bloodline. That training helped with much of his elemental manipulation for two out his three affinities. His skills with his taijutsu were growing just as much as his physical training. He was quite adept at using Hiryuu-Ken while Yasei no Kitsune-Ken, he was still in the process of learning. After all, one does not become a master of a taijutsu style overnight.

His physical capabilities had increased tenfold, or so he had been told by his pervert of a sensei. Once he had those weights and seals off Jiraiya told him that he would be around Kakashi's level, the level of an elite jounin, within the next year.

Naruto looked over to see Mizu no Kuni just a few hours away, he could hear Jiraiya talking to the female captain of the boat on what seemed like a new piece for his Icha Icha series. He sweatdropped as Jiraya was suddenly kicked in the balls sending him crumpling to the deck of the ship with the captain releasing a cry of "HENTAI!"

Turning away from his damaged teacher, Naruto stared back at one of the five great elemental nations. Once they got to Mizu no Kuni, Naruto would hope to expect more growth and development for him. As well as the wonders of what would Kirigakure be like after a couples years in being in a civil war.

Naruto couldn't help but bear a fox grin on his face.

_**End**_

_**Translations**_

_**Urasai-Shut Up**_

_**Kuso-Shit/Damn it**_

_**Oiroke no jutsu: Sexy technique**_

_**Oiroke Rasengan: Sexy Rasengan**_

_**Doton: Yomi Numa: Earth style: Swamp of the Underworld**_

_**Ninpo: Hari Jizo - Ninja Art: Needle Hell**_

_**Katon: Endan - Fire Style: Fireball**_

_**Hiryuu-Ken-Flying Dragon's Fist**_

_**Yasei no Kitsune-Ken- Wild Fox's Fist**_

_**Favorite, Comment, Review!**_

_**XxdivinedragonxX**_

_**Kitsunedragon**_

_**REVIEW!**_


	4. Chapter 4

**Yo. Hey guys, Kitsunedragon here, and I'm back with my chapter 4 for this story. Seems we're getting some pretty decent feedback here in response to the chapters being made and XxheavendragonxX and I are glad for it. A little negativity here and there, but try not to flame okay guys. Sometimes you guys take it a bit too far with the cursing and stuff. Just some helpful criticism will do, no need to try and yell through the laptop. The only time cursing is acceptable is if you include it in a comment to enhance your feeling of surprise if we managed to surprise you with an aspect of the chapter/story or if you want to put a positive comment like, "Holy shit, this is awesome."**

**Sorry for the long wait, but I've had a lot of stuff to do so I rarely manage to write. So to make up for it, I made this chapter extremely long so you guys can enjoy it to your leisure. **

**Anyway, enough of that. It's time for Chapter 4. Hope you guys enjoy it. Remember to Review at the end of the chapter. IKUZO!**

**Hey guy's this is XxdivinedragonxX letting you guys out with a quick note, the next chapter will be delayed a tad bit with the work of Jinchurriki of Apocalypse and a one shot still ongoing till this weekend and a little afterwards. Though after that the next chapter should come out soon!**

**Cry of the Raiju**

**Chapter 4: Calm Before the Storm**

_**Docks-Kirigakure no**__**Sato**_

The ship had let out a loud honk in order to notify its passengers that it had arrived at the dock of the hidden village of Mizu no Kuni. The captain stood at the side of the exit, waving goodbye to her passengers. However, as soon as Jiraya had come up, she had launched an icy glare at him causing him to bite his tongue in order to keep whatever perverted remark he had in store for the attractive woman remained in his mind. A smirk of satisfaction graced the captain's features as the white haired sage was silent before going back to her happy persona when Naruto and the other passengers followed after him.

As soon as Naruto had walked over to Jiraya, the master and apprentice had already begun their trek into Kirigakure no Sato's streets. Naruto looked over the village itself as he and Jiraya walked through it all. The village itself seemed a bit dark and gloomy, but that was most likely due to the large amounts of mist that coated the area, thus blocking a decent amount of sunlight. The buildings themselves were very amazing pieces of architecture which made up for the lack of viewing pleasure. A majority of the houses were basic one to two story houses for the civilians and/or shinobi that resided within the area, but there were also many towering pieces of infrastructure that appeared to disappear into the clouds of mist that loomed high above the heads of the locals as well as the foreigners that walked the streets of the ninja village. Though, true to its name of Mizu no Kuni, the capital of Kirigakure no Sato had many a water way flowing alongside the buildings in some areas. The water flowed beneath waterwheels which were used to turn the gears of grinding mills as well as, in a rather amazing show of innovative thinking, to turn a numerous amount of chakra conductive metal turbines which were infused with lightning elemental seals to provide electrical energy which was then distributed accordingly throughout the Village Hidden in the Mist.

As Naruto continued to marvel at the village, he remembered something which caused him to frown.

'Haku and Zabuza had lived here.' The images of the two shinobi that caused him to change his entire perspective on shinobi livelihood and the development of his nindo crossed his mind before he turned to Jiraya.

"Oi, Ero-kyofu?" Naruto asked his godfather which, upon taking the information into consideration, had seen fit to change the nickname of his teacher from Ero-Sennin to the aforementioned one. Jiraya's eye twitched at that, but seeing as how the boy wasn't really wrong in the naming of him, he had let it slide for the entirety of its usage.

"What, gaki?"

"Ummm..." Naruto moved in a bit closer to his white haired sensei so as to whisper the words, "Isn't Kiri supposed to be locked in some kind of civil war right now? The Mizukage and the Daimyo have been fighting for supremacy for a while haven't they?"

Jiraya nodded, "Hai, but that civil war ended a few months ago. The Mizukage now rules over Kirigakure no Sato, but in a show of good nature, the Mizukage had decided to give the daimyo a more than satisfactory amount of control over the trade industry which is what gives Kirigakure the primary amount of it revenue aside from tourism. After all, these buildings don't build themselves." He gestured to the towering skyscrapers of the village. Naruto nodded in understanding.

"So, why are we here anyway? This is place is way too populated for us to take part in any training whatsoever unless you came here just so you 'research' on the bath houses of Kiri." Naruto deadpanned. Jiraya chuckled and ruffled the hair of his godson.

"Now, now my young pupil. Dost thou think so little of my reasoning to come here?" He spoke with mock hurt. "Although I must admit that doing some research here wouldn't be a bad idea." Jiraya mused before giving a serious look at the blonde jinchuriki.

"But the real reason we are here is because Kirigakure is holding the Chunin Exams this year and you are no doubt above chunin level in terms of your skill so I thought why not get you a suitable ranking to go with your skills." Jiraya said causing Naruto's eyes to widen.

"R-R-Really? The Chunin Exams...here? Now?" He asked with excitement. Jiraya nodded.

"Yup, but first we have to head over to the Mizukage's tower to sign you up. We're kind of a late entry." Naruto's eyes narrowed before turning to face his perverted sensei.

"How late are we talking, Ero-kyofu?" Jiraya rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

"Ummm...we kind of only have one week to prepare before the actual thing starts." He said with a nervous chuckle. Naruto's eyes widened, nearly bugging out of his head.

"ONE WEEK?! YOU GOT BE FUCKING KIDDING ME?!" He yelled. Jiraya waved his hands in a defensive manner.

"Now hold on, the training I did with you is more than enough for you to do the exam, but don't worry, you have your shinobi passport so we can be recognized as legally being within Kirigakure."

"Well before we go to the Mizukage's Tower we should drop out stuff off at the hotel I booked us in." Naruto nodded in agreement as he followed his sensei to the hotel which was another member of the tall buildings that lay amongst the throng of already freakishly tall buildings. The hotel was rather simple looking, relatively tall and strong looking despite it being a hotel building. It had a numerous amount of windows, about three windows in twenty rows to represent the twenty floors that made up the hotel and there were a few small balconies present on floors fifteen to twenty. There was no specific name for the hotel, but the neon sign shone brightly through the mist with the single word 'HOTEL' being present in a bright indigo colour.

Jiraya and Naruto entered the hotel before walking up to the front desk. The young man that stood behind the front desk gave a friendly smile and bow to the two new entries of the hotel.

"Ohayo Gozaimasu." The man spoke in a polite tone before standing straight once more. "I am the concierge of this establishment, Tokiyama. How may I help you?"

"Tokiyama-san, my pupil and I require a single room with two beds please. Any floor is fine, we're not picky." Jiraya said with an equally polite tone to the concierge. Tokiyama nodded before going through the log book in front of him before looking up with a small smile.

"It appears we have a couple rooms containing what you like. The fourth, seventh, eight and tenth floors contain one room each with two beds. Which floor would you like?" He asked, "I would recommend the tenth floor room. There are two bathrooms in that one." That sealed the deal for the two shinobi as they slammed their hands on the desk.

"WE'LL TAKE IT!" They said loudly. Tokiyama sweatdropped at their eagerness to take the room before nodding and handing them the key.

"Your room number is 1009. We hope you enjoy your stay here in our hotel and in Kirigakure no Sato, by extension." Tokiyama bowed once more as Naruto and Jiraya bowed in reply.

"Arigatou, Tokiyama-san." Naruto and Jiraya spoke before heading towards the staircase. Climbing the stairs to the tenth floor, Naruto and Jiraya followed the lengthy hallway towards the room, 1009. Jiraya took the key out of his pocket before inserting it into the lock and entering the room. The two males entered and surveyed their temporary living quarters they would be using for the entirety of their stay in Kiri.

The room was rather plain, much like the one Naruto and Jiraya had stayed at when they went to look for Tsunade. A large sliding window that granted them a view of the streets below. There were two queen sized beds and a single side table placed in between both beds which had a pair of lamps placed atop it. A clock hung on the wall showing the time to be almost noon. The two bathrooms were located opposite each bed.

'The beds are much more comfy that I thought they would be.' Naruto thought as he had plopped himself down upon said bed. Jiraya and Naruto rested their bags on their respective beds before Naruto decided to go use the bathroom as Jiraya began to check through his supplies for when he and Naruto had to go to the Mizukage's quarters to register for the Chunin Exams.

"Oi, Ero-kyofu?!" Naruto yelled from the porcelain throne. Jiraya sweatdropped at his godson having to call him out from the bathroom of all places.

"Yes, Naruto?"

"Just out of curiosity, what are the rules for the Chunin Exams here in Kirigakure because I doubt it will be anything similar to that of Konoha's." Naruto said. Jiraya nodded in agreement.

"Well that is true, but the only way to find out what exactly they will be doing for the Chunin Exams this year are to take part in them...or at least be an examiner or the Mizukage. However, the only rule I remember being common in all Chunin Exams is that you have permission to kill." The Gama Sennin replied. The sound of the toilet flushing was heard and in a few seconds after washing his hands, Naruto emerged from the bathroom with a frown on his face.

"So...I'm guessing there will be a few people like that Anko lady who are sadistic bitches, in the exam?" Jiraya laughed at his student's serious tone before nodding.

"Most likely, but damn gaki...does Anko-chan really scare you?"

"It's not that she scares me, Ero-kyofu. It's just that she's really, really creepy. I mean she licked my frickin' blood!" He waved his arms around for emphasis. Jiraya ruffled his student's hair.

"It's okay, gaki. Now then..." The Toad Sage gained a serious look upon his face, "I have to admit that there will be a problem getting you into the exams because only three man teams allowed to enter the exam, just like in Konoha. So the problem lies in where to get you two other team mates." Naruto and Jiraya stared at one another with thoughtful gazes only for Naruto to suddenly break out into his infamous foxy grin.

"Alright, gaki..." Jiraya spoke with a sigh, "What is going on in that little head of yours?"

"Ero-kyofu...I don't why you even see this as a problem. You're talking to a prank master who has Kagebunshin and Henge at his disposal." Jiraya blinked at the blonde in confusion before his eyes widened in realization.

"Gaki..you evil little genius you." Naruto's grin increased in size. And who claimed blondes were idiots?

A large cylindrical tower stood before them. The tower itself appeared to be made of strong concrete and probably had wood and steel used for supporting the gargantuan structure. The tower looked to be a good ten feet taller than the Hokage Tower back in Konoha. It was painted with a deep ocean blue colour and white in an upward swirling pattern making it look like the tower was made of a raging whirlpool. The kanji for 'Water' was placed in the centre of a giant red circle which lay on the tower with the symbol for Kirigakure laying on the arch that was above the doorway that led into the tower. Said symbol being the four wavy lines that were found on the hitai-ate of each Kirigakure shinobi.

"So this is the Mizukage's Tower huh?" Naruto stared up at the towering architectural marvel.

"Yup." Jiraya replied. "Now come on, let's you into those Chunin Exams." He knocked on the door, its steel construction causing it to release a hollow clang with each knock. Suddenly a slot slid open allowing for a pair of dark coloured eyes to peer through the door.

"Who is this?" The owner of the pair of eyes spoke with a baritone, glaring at the two foreign ninja.

"I am Jiraya, member of the Sannin no Konoha. I'm here to sign my students up for this year's Chunin Exams." Jiraya explained as he gestured to Naruto. As the eyes turned to look at Naruto, two other figures suddenly appeared beside him.

The first figure was a young boy around Naruto's age, with straight, dark blue hair and had two white vertical highlights. He had pale skin and electric blue eyes. The boy wore a dark blue vest over a black, long-sleeved shirt and a pair of black pants and sandals. His build was rather muscular, but not so much that he would be registered as a body builder. A katana was strapped to the boy's back. The second figure was another young male who looked the same age as Naruto as well. He had crimson coloured hair and matching eyes. Said eyes had dark black rings outlining them that would remind one of Gaara's eyes and had a large grin present on his face which allowed one to see the abnormally sharp canines present in his mouth. The red haired boy wore a red shirt with black sleeves and a pair of crimson pants and black shinobi sandals. His build was similar to that of Naruto's thus showing that this boy was built for speed not power unlike his blue haired counterpart.

The two 'shinobi' and Naruto all whipped out their passports to verify their identities.

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto and these are my team mates. Kamina..." He gestured to the blue haired boy, "And Kurama." He directed his hand towards the red haired 'team mate' of his. The dark coloured eyes narrowed as they surveyed the passports closely before a slight movement showed that the person had nodded.

"Very well, you may enter Mizukage-sama's dwelling. Jiraya-sama, you and your pupils may pass through." The slot then closed and the door opened revealing the guard of the door. Naruto, 'Kamina' and 'Kurama' all stared in awe at the large man who towered over them. Despite Jiraya have a towering height of 6'2, this person was a good five inches over Jiraya's head. A pale skinned man who appeared to be rather lanky, but to the trained eye one could see the tension in his muscles. He wore a standard jounin uniform for Kirigakure no Sato and had his hitai-ate wrapped around his left bicep.

"Come, I shall lead you to Mizukage-sama's quarters." The man spoke before closing the door as soon as they had entered. Climbing the spiral staircase, the two Konoha shinobi followed their Kiri escort up to the top floor of the tower. Upon reaching said floor, the lanky man led Jiraya, Naruto and his two other 'pupils' a rather plain looking door with a golden door knob.

The man turned to the Konoha ninja and took out a small scroll and opened it out.

"A Storage Scroll?" Naruto asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Hai. As you are not fully trusted within the village, I ask that you, your team mates as well as Jiraya-sama, to leave your weapons inside this scroll for obvious reasons." Jiraya nodded and Naruto and his 'team mates' followed suit. 'Kamina', 'Kurama' and Naruto removed their ninjatos while Jiraya only took away his weapons pouch, as well as Naruto's. After the items were sealed away, Gen pocketed the scroll.

"Your items will be returned after your meeting with Mizukage-sama." The gatekeeper of the Kage Tower spoke. The man raised his hand and knocked three times.

"Enter." A muffled voice spoke. The man turned the doorknob and pushed it open allowing the Konoha shinobi the chance to gaze at the office of the Mizukage. It was very much like the Hokage's office in which it was quite large. There was a large set of windows behind the large wooden desk which seemed to be coated with a surprising amount of paper work. There was a rather large bookcase filled to the brim with scroll regarding things such as politics, strategy, and it was likely there may have been a jutsu scroll hidden amongst the cylindrical object storage unit. Behind the desk was a beautiful red leather chair with an even more beauitful women resting herself in said chair.

The woman was very beautiful, some might even claim her to be a goddess in human form. She had a very shapely form for as she stood to her feet, Jiraya was quick to scan her from her lean face, her large breasts and wide hips and had to hold back the nosebleed when a very long leg was visible through the slit in the woman's dark blue dress. Said dress only began midway at her breasts, but the rest of her mounds were covered by a mesh undershirt. The woman had red oxide coloured hair that was very long that extended well past her shoulders and some managed to cover one of her dark coloured eyes. She had cream coloured skin and wore dark blue lipstick. A set of dark blue, high heel shoes were worn on her feet, but if it weren't for the large dark blue and white hat that rested atop her head, one would not have even suspected this amazing specimen of the female populace to be the Mizukage of Kirigakure no Sato, Terumi Mei.

Next to the Mizukage was a tall, middel aged man who wore what looked like a hunter nin's outfit.

'Looks like Haku's.' Naruto observed.

Aqua coloured robed was worn over a dark green turtle neck and matching pants, which were visible since the battle kimono only covered from his collar bone to the middle of his lower leg area. A pair of dark blue sandals was worn on the man's feet. His blue hair was slicked upwards and his Kiri hitai-ate was worn around his forehead. His tanned skin was slightly wrinkled and an eye patch covered his left eye while the brown iris of his right eye glared at the Konoha ninja. This was Ao, Mei's bodyguard and a member of the Kirigakure ANBU-Hunter nin corps.

"Gen, is something the matter?" The Mizukage asked as she looked at her tower's bodyguard.

"No, Mizukage-sama." The man knelt upon entering the room. "My apologies for intruding so abruptly as I know you are busy with the paperwork for the Chunin Exams, but it appears that Jiraya-sama of the Sannin no Konoha and a trio of genin have come to take part in the exams as well." Gen rose up and gestured to the Gama Sennin and his genin trio.

"I see. Arigatou, Gen. You may leave." Mei spoke with a nod of her head. Gen rose up to his feet, bowed once more, and left the room, ducking his head in order to avoid being hit by the upper part of the door frame. As Gen left, Mei and Ao turned their attention to the Konoha shinobi.

"Hello, Jiraya-san."

"Mizukage-sama." Jiraya spoke with a respectful tone. Despite his perverted mindset, he knew when to be himself and when to be serious. "Mizukage-sama, as your gatekeeper had stated before, my apprentice, Naruto Uzumaki and his two 'team mates'..." Jiraya turned back to the three and earned himself a sly wink from the blonde, "They are here to enter your village's Chunin Examinations. Since this is a rather late entry I thought it would be best to notify you of this."

Mei nodded before turning to Ao.

"Ao-san, please run a scan of our guests to see if they decided to go against Gen-san's wishes of handing over their weapons prior to entering in my presence." Ao nodded before holding up one hand and activated his sensory abilities. "Ao-san is a member of the ANBU Hunter-nin corps and one of, if not the best sensory type shinobi in Kiri. Hence why is he now my personal bodyguard." Mei explained as she gave a sweet smile.

Ao cancelled his chakra usage and then asked the Konoha shinobi to see their I.D/Passports. Upon looking at them, he verified that they were authentic before he turned to his superior. "Mizukage-sama, they don't have anything that would harm you. Personally, I don't really see why they would want to harm you, you are a kage and so..." As Ao continued his rant, the Mizukage only focused on specific words in her bodyguard's dialogue.

'They...want...you.' These words were prominent in her mind and so the red haired kage turned and gave Ao a sickeningly sweet smile. "Ao...shut up or I'll kill you."

The eyepatch wearing man's eye widened in surprise. 'Nani? Again, what did I do? This always happens!' He thought. Naruto, 'Kamina' and 'Kurama' all sweatdropped while Jiraya remained impassive, but in the end they couldn't help but feel a sense of foreboding towards the powerful shinobi before them.

"Alright, Jiraya-sama. You and your genin team are free to enter our Chunin Exams. The first exam will take place in one week, so I suggest you prepare your students well as people tend to die frequently in these exams." Mei said.

"Arigatou for the advice, Mizukage-sama." Jiraya bowed before turning to Naruto and his two 'team mates'. "Come on, Naruto. You, 'Kamina' and 'Kurama' need to train and prepare for this one week." A simultaneous nod was done by all three boys before they followed Jiraya outside of the office. Once the door closed behind them, Ao turned to Mei.

"Mizukage-sama, there is something off about those three genin, should I pursue them?"

"No, Ao. Everything is off about shinobi and if we went by every single 'off' feeling we had, then we'd basically be killing every single ambassador and liaison that enters our borders. Besides..." She smiled at Ao, "The blonde one looks like he'll give us a show during the course of these exams."

_**Streets of Kirigakure**_

As Jiraya, Naruto, Kamina and Kurama received their supplies back from Gen, they immediately headed back to the hotel. Once they entered the room, 'Kamina' and 'Kurama', as well as their passports and exploded into plumes of smoke revealing them to be Naruto's Kagebunshin.

"Gee boss, could you cut it closer next time. I swear that Ao guy could see right through the Henge." 'Kamina' spoke.

"I agree." 'Kurama' and the other Naruto clones chorused.

"Oh come, do you really think that we could get caught?" Naruto asked.

"The woman was a kage and she said that other guy was the best sensory shinobi they had." 'Kamina' and 'Kurama deadpanned. Naruto stared at his clones, who raised their eyebrows as if they were waiting for some reply from their creator.

"Just shut up." Naruto said as he made a handsign and the clones all dispelled in simultaneous plumes of smoke. "See, I told you we could get through with it, Ero-kyofu."

"Hai, hai. Though I must ask, just how good are you that you are able to make an ANBU unwary of your 'team mates' and their identification cards?"

"Ero-kyofu, when you've spent your entire childhood pranking and getting the ability to go into the women's side of the hotsprings under the guise of Henge with female _shinobi _in said hotspring...that is how good I am. Of course, first few times I got my ass kicked for getting caught." Jiraya hugged his student.

"The pervert is strong with this one." The white haired man said with tears of joy running down his face. "I'm so proud of you, my godson."

"Urasai, Ero-kyofu. Seriously, I think you're soaking my hair." Naruto pushed the older man away and the Toad Sage wiped his tears. "So what's the training agenda? By the way, does Baa-chan know about my partaking in this Chunin Exams? Did she even consent?"

Jiraya chuckled, "Well, in that order; I plan on just having you do some work with your elemental ninjutsu and work on your Fuuinjutsu a little bit more. Plus you said how that you were still working with that Raiju of yours on some new jutsus, so you can do that. Plus, I also aim to have you read some scrolls relating to politics during the week of training because if you say you want to be Hokage, you're going to have to learn that kind of stuff. You have Kagebunshin no Jutsu, so you'll be able to split up the work evenly. Secondly, yes Tsunade knows I was letting you partake in this Chunin Exams, however she said that none of the genin from your year will be taking place this year because, well it's only been six months gaki and I doubt your friends were able to increase in strength at the rate you're at to be ready for a Chunin Exams, I mean seriously, none of them have the ability to make hundreds of clones and be able to learn multiple things at the same time. Thirdly, my reply just answered your third , Tsunade consented, but she said how that she would be unable to spare any genin for you to act as your team mates which is why I said it would have been trouble to get you a three man team."

"Oh." Naruto replied intelligently.

"You wanna start now or later, gaki?" The white haired Sennin asked. The blonde then held up his hands in a cross-shaped handsign and grinned widely.

**"Kagebunshin no Jutsu!"** Jiraya sighed as he saw the room was filled with about fifty replicas of the blonde genin.

"You know, you could have just said 'yes' or 'no'?"

"Aww, where's the fun in that, Ero-kyofu?"

_**One Week Later-Kirigakure Chunin Examination**_

Naruto had recreated his clones in the likeliness of his 'team mates' from yesterday. 'Kamina' and 'Kurama' then stretched their limbs as they stood beside their creator, ready to go into the first act of the Chunin Exams of Kirigakure no Sato.

"So boss, do you think we'll be ready for this?" 'Kurama' asked.

"Why are you asking this? You are me, so you should know the answer to that." The blonde replied to his red haired 'team mate'.

"Oh yeah, right." The red haired boy chuckled sheepishly. 'Kamina' shook his head at his fellow clone before surveying the area.

"Though, I must say boss...'Kurama' has a point in asking, I mean just look at how much people are in this thing." Naruto looked around and frowned as he realized 'Kurama' and 'Kamina' did have a bit of a point in their asking. There were over one hundred teams taking part and all of them had that look that said how they would be willing to do whatever it took to gain the promotion to chunin.

'Too bad, I'll be the one getting in their way.' The blonde grinned like the Kyuubi within him.

**"Mind lopping a few heads for me, kit? I haven't seen bloodshed in so long."**

**"Baka-kitsune. Stop trying to warp Naruto's mind!"**

**"You dare call the great Kyuubi no Yoko a baka, I ought to rip you to shreds!"**

**"But you can't, because you're caged."** The Raiju countered. **"Now leave Naruto alone." **

**"Oh for Kami's sake, Raiju"** Kurama rolled his eyes, **"You're quite spineless for a celestial being. The kit has to kill soon enough, why not do it legally?" **

'Even though I have no desire to kill anyone in these exams unless I have to...Kyuubi does have a valid point, Kamina.' The Raiju gaped in shock at his pupil as the kitsune chakra construct was grinning like a maniac.

**"See, you baka-Raiju. Even the kit agrees with me." **The Raiju grumbled about ungrateful blond students and their bijuu plotting his downfall before gazing at Naruto's clones through the boy's eyes.

**"Naruto, I've been meaning to ask. Why name your 'team mates' after myself and Kurama?" **

'It just popped into my head.' Naruto shrugged. 'Besides, I was under pressure and I work better under it.'

**"I told you not to call me by name, you insolent ningen!" **The Kyuubi roared in Naruto's mindscape.

'You said not to call _you _by name, Kyuubi. Never said anything about my Henge-ed Kagebunshins.' Kurama was about to roar once more, but paused as it saw the logic in Naruto's statement. There was a period of silence and Kamina and Naruto chuckled at the demon kitsune before said kitsune turned away with a scowl on its face.

**"Smartass." **It commented before closing its eyes in an effort to go to sleep.

**"Good luck, Naruto. Keep those kagebunshin alive until the end of the exam and try not get yourself killed." **

'Hai, Kamina-sensei. Oh and tell Kyuubi thanks for the training.' Kamina chuckled as he saw the nine tailed demon wave an uncaring paw at Naruto's words.

**"I don't need you thanks, gaki." **

Naruto cut off the link between his inner demon and celestial being before his transformed clones grabbed him and ushered him to the front of the crowd of shinobi where they were beginning to group together due to the examiner finally arriving. To say Naruto was in shock was an understatement. Before the similarly shocked series of genin level shinobi was a young boy who looked to be around Naruto's age, give or take a year or two.

The boy was very, very pale in terms of his complexion, though living in a country that tended to blot out the sun tended to cause that effect due to the lack of vitamin D in one's system. He had dark coloured eyes and slightly spiky, light blue hair. A pair of rectangular frame glasses was worn on his face that were connected to ear protectors. A dark blue turtle neck and camouflage patterned pant made his outfit along with a pair of dark blue shinobi sandals. His Kiri hiatai-ate was attached to the center of a vest that he wore around his chest. Attached to his back by a belt was a large object wrapped in bandages. Two black handles protruded from the object's base.

'Kind of like that Kisame guy. Maybe it's a sword...maybe it's one of the swords that belonged to the Seven Swordsmen.' Naruto thought. The boy looked rather shy, but the boy suddenly shook his head as he cleared his mind of the fact that hundreds of shinobi, many from foreign countries, were now staring him down. He gave an unsure smile, revealing to many his shark-like teeth.

"Ohayou, my fellow shinobi. My name is Chojuro and I am a member of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist and wielder of the blade Hiramekarei. I have been chosen by the honourable Mizukage-sama to as your examiner for this first section of the Kirigakure Chunin Exams." Chojuro spoke with a confident tone, but despite its sound, Naruto could see the insecurity the boy was feeling. However, the boy's introduction was an eye-opener to the fact that he was not what he seemed.

Chojuro seemed weak, but given the fact that he was a member of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, the most revered set of swordsmen in all of the Elemental Nations, as well as a successful wielder of a blade spoke volumes of the young boy's strength as most Seven Swordsmen members were at least high jounin to Anbu level in terms of strength. The boy then flashed through handsigns.

**"Suiton: Mizubunshin no Jutsu." **Suddenly, three more Chojuro's appeared out of the air as the mist and the boy's chakra mixed and condensed to form the clones. The swordsman then took out a small sealing scroll and unfurled it. In a puff of smoke, a small box appeared in his hands.

"Now then, each team will receive a number. So a single member of each team, come forward and put your hand in the box and take out a piece of paper. That will be your number. I will explain afterwards." The genin surrounding Chojuro nodded and a single genin from each team went forth and took up their numbers from the box. Naruto reached in and felt around before settling his hands on a paper.

'Hmmm, Number 9...how ironic.' He thought as he walked back to 'Kurama' and 'Kamina'.

"So boss, what'd we get?" 'Kamina' asked.

"Number 9." He answered his kagebunshin. 'Kurama' narrowed his eyes.

"That's rather ironic."

"It is isn't it?" Naruto and 'Kamina' deadpanned. Once all the teams got their numbers, Chojuro spoke once more.

"Now all of you will be split up into four groups. There are about one hundred teams taking place in the exams so an equal 25 members will be in each group. Numbers one through twenty-five are with me, the original. Numbers twenty-six through fifty are with my first Mizubunshin. Numbers fifty-one through seven-five are with Mizubunshin number two and the ones with numbers seventy-six through one hundred are with my third. Now split up and follow your respective examiners." Chojuro explained. Naruto, 'Kamina' and 'Kurama' followed the original Chojuro. Naruto looked at the other twenty-four teams that were with him.

There were three Konoha genin teams, but none that were part of his year of Rookies due to the fact they looked to be about two years older than him. There were two teams from Kumo, five from Iwa, two from Kusa, three from Taki and the remainder were Kirigakure shinobi. Chojuro then stopped in front of the gated entrance to a large landscape that was fenced in. The mist covering the area didn't help lower the intimdation factor the area was supposed to give off, but Naruto had been in the Forest of Death, fought Orochimaru, stared into the eyes of a bijuu, two if he counted when he took on Shukaku during the invasion from Suna and Oto last year, and nearly took a Chidori through the chest from his former best friend. There was very little that scared him.

"Now then, this first part of the Chunin Exams is a survival course. The area behind this fence is a large swamp and mangrove area that is home to many amphibious creatures, reptiles and a few land based creatures as well. A majority of which are gargantuan in size, I would know since I was nearly killed in their during my test to prove myself as a worthy member of the Seven Swordsmen." Chojuro paused a he remembered nearly being eaten by a giant crocodile before turning back to the genin before him, a blush of embarrassment on his face.

"This is Kirigakure's Training Ground, Number 666: The Demon's Hunting Ground."

'Way to be subtle about it. As if the number doesn't give away the danger level of the place.' Naruto rolled his eyes.

"The Demon's Hunting Ground is quartered off, so there are four sections of this area. You twenty-five teams are in the first quadrant of the grounds. In the centre of the Number 666 is a large facility where you all will have to go upon completion of this first test. However, your survival is not the only objective in this test. If you will look at your number sheets you got earlier, you will see a picture stuck to the back of it." Chojuro paused as the genin took out their numbers and found Chojuro's statement to be true.

There was a picture of a red and black box with the kanji for 'Mist' on it. 'I wonder what's in it.' The blonde jinchuriki thought.

"What is your object? A box correct?" Chojuro asked.

"I got a red and black box, yeah."

"Same here."

"Us too."

The responses were more or less the same and so the blue haired boy continued his explanation. "Your secondary objective is to find that box. We have a fixed amount of boxes present in this quadrant, how much is a secret that I will not reveal to you all. You have three days to complete your task. So remember, survive, find your box and get to the facility in the centre of the grounds within three days. Also, don't worry about venturing into other quadrants, we've section those off with electrical fencing so in the end...you will still die by electrocution." Chojuro said with a nervous laugh causing many to sweatdrop at his bluntness.

"He's as blunt as that Mizukage." 'Kamina' whispered.

"That's for sure." 'Kurama' said.

"Alright!" Chojuro shouted to get everyone's attention. "There are specific gates with your numbers on them, go find them and on my mark, you will enter this area." In a matter of minutes, the genin all reached their respective gates. Naruto and his two Henge-ed clones stared at the fenced entrance of Gate Number 9.

"Alright...I have to keep you guys alive because well...even though I can just make more clones and transform them, I don't want to waste too much chakra having to continuously recreate my 'team mates'."

"We're counting on you to protect us, boss-sama, -ttebayo!" 'Kamina' and 'Kurama' hugged their creator causing Naruto to sweatdrop at the red haired and blue haired clones.

"Way to stick the pressure on me." He deadpanned. Suddenly an audible click met the three Narutos' ears. 'Kamina', 'Kurama' and Naruto tensed their legs much like the other seventy genin present in his group, ready to take off. The shark toothed boy's voice echoed through the mist covered air as the gates suddenly shot open.

"HAIJIME!"

_**Hotel**_

Jiraya sat in the hotel bedroom as he contemplated his next move. He looked over the map which laid out his route for the next year and six months he had to train with Naruto.

'Okay, so we head to Taki after this. I wonder if their jinchuriki will be willing to converse with Naruto.' The Gama Sennin sighed before rummaging through his backpack and took out his notebook.

"Maybe some research will help me calm my boredom. Time to look for some brothels." Jiraya gave a lecherous grin before opening the window, closing it as he stepped outside, and began to jumping from rooftop to rooftop in search of his intended destination.

_**Training Ground 666-Demon's Hunting Ground**_

_Day 1_

Naruto, 'Kamina' and 'Kurama' walked atop the waters of the marshy area they were currently in.

"Okay, boss. What's the plan?" 'Kamina' asked. 'Kurama' decided to answer his fellow kagebunshin.

"I would think we should find some suitable land area in order to make a camp. I mean, sure we trained, or at least the boss did, with Ero-kyofu to use the water walking exercise to the point we could sleep on water, but I'd rather not considering that Chojuro guy's explanation of there being giant monsters and stuff in this place like the in the Forest of Death." The red haired disguised clone said. Naruto nodded.

"You, or would it be I...nevermind, anyway, 'Kurama' has a point. We should try to find a dry land area to make camp. Once we do that, I'll make a few more kagebunshins to guard it while we go out and search for the the box. We have three days, so we should find some dry land fast. I don't like how those bubbles in the water are looking." Naruto added as he warily eyed two bubbles that rose up from the murky waters, only for said bubbles to blink at him.

"Okay, those bubbles blinked. Let's move...fast." 'Kamina' said before jumping, his creator and 'Kurama' following with gusto. After a few hours of leaping across the water's surface, the group had finally come across a relatively large patch of dry land. It was small enough that Naruto thought that it couldn't even cover half of the quadrant his team was in, but large enough that it provided enough room to make a campsite without immediately being spotted should someone have also found the land area. The mist in the air helped with that, but Naruto noticed that the amount of mist was noticeably that may have been due to the towering trees that were located on the piece of land.

"Alright, **Kagebunshin no Jutsu!**" Naruto made ten replicas of himself appear in plumes of smoke before reaching into his weapons pouch and took out a scroll. He opened it out revealing the seal array drawn on it. He placed it on the ground and then rested his hand on the seal before pumping a small amount of chakra into it.

**"Fuuin: Kai!"** He said as his sleeping bag and his backpack which he kept his other supplies in appeared.

"Oi, boss what about us? Where's our sleeping bags?" 'Kamina' asked.

"Yeah boss, we're your 'team mates'...despite us being temporary in this plane of existence." 'Kurama' added. Naruto pinched the bridge of his nose before glaring at his 'team mates'.

"Complain and I will replace you with another pair." 'Kamina' and 'Kurama' nodded readily at their creator's words. Besides, they were clones that ran on exactly one tenth of Naruto's massive chakra reserves and due to them being non-living, in a sense, they required no sleep, water or food.

"Guess, we'll just be on guard duty with the others during the night shifts then." The two Henge-ed kagebunshins muttered to themselves.

Leaping from tree to tree in the misty, forested area, the Naruto trio heightened their senses to their limits in order to search for the red and black box that would grant them access into the facility where the second part of their Chunin Exams would take place.

"So boss, I know it's a bad time to ask...but do you know what you're doing and how we're going to find this box?" 'Kurama' asked. Naruto sweatdropped as he turned to face his red haired 'team mate'.

"Not a clue." 'Kamina' had sighed at his creator's mind, but then again they were the same person so technically he and 'Kurama' did have the same mindset as Naruto. The trio then paused as they felt pulses of chakra scattered throughout the forested area. A multitude of screams also met their ears and the three winced at that.

"Guess the people are starting to dwindle." 'Kamina' commented. Naruto nodded.

"Though I pity their losses, it only gives us that much of an advantage in getting those boxes. Come on, we have to keep moving."

As they continued their search, Naruto's ears twitched and he quickly took out a kunai and turned around. 'Kamina' and 'Kurama' did the same only they drew their ninjatos. He sniffed the air and the blonde jinchuriki frowned as the mist was messing with his sense of smell.

'Kuso. Of all the times for my sense of smell to be a handicap...' The blonde let his thought hang within his mind as he blocked a trio of shuriken headed his way with the kunai in his hand. He then threw said knife in the direction the metal stars came from resulting in the figures he aimed at, having to move.

'Like hell you're getting away.' Naruto growled. He reached into his weapons pouch and pulled out four seal tags, each one bearing a seal array made for a 'Barrier' type seal. 'Kurama' and 'Kamina' worked on getting the trio of assailants enclosed which worked with a mixture of chasing and using kunai and shuriken in a method to cause them to divert towards the intended area. This worked on the first two members and since the third member of the team, said team having been revealed to be from Kirigakure itself, went back for his team mates, Naruto took his chance. He quickly dropped down on the ground and placed the four seal tags on the ground before flashing through a few handsigns.

**"Fuuinjutsu: Kara Ori!" **The seal tags glowed and the Kiri team looked around and laughed.

"That did nothing!" The first member laughed, a boy.

"Come on, let's get out of this 'trap'" The female member of the trio spoke sarcastically. Naruto looked at his Henge-ed clones with an evil grin.

"Three." 'Kamina' started.

"Two." 'Kurama' held up his two fingers.

"One." Naruto finished the countdown as the three Kiri shinobi leaped towards the trio only for them to slam face first against an invisible wall. They skidded down the wall as a pulse of blue chakra sent them flying back into the centre of the sealed area.

"You're not getting out of there anytime soon I believe unless I want you to. You attacked me so I doubt you guys have a box and judging by your angry expressions, I would say that's an affirmative. Now since you prove a hindrance to my finding a box, you can guess what I'm going to do. Oh by the way, the barrier drains about an eighth of your chakra every minute so you have about eight minutes before you fall into unconsciousness from its effects. Ja Ne." Naruto gave a happy wave as the Kiri shinobi spouted profanities at Naruto and his team.

"Can we activate the mute option of the barrier?" 'Kurama asked. Naruto looked at the still yelling Kiri shinobi before tapping the invisible wall of the 'Barrier' seal and sent a pulse of lightning elemental chakra running through it.

**"Raiju Arc: Shougeki." **Arcs of blue lightning shot forth and lashed out at the loud shinobi and rendered them unconscious when it died down.

"I think Kyuubi's given the boss made the boss into a bit of a sadist." 'Kamina' whispered as he noted the manic grin present on the blonde's face.

"Ya think?!" 'Kurama spoke with a roll of his eyes before following their creator into the mist covered trees of the Demon's Hunting Ground.

After a few more hours of searching with the assistance of about fifty kagebunshin-he was a chakra beacon enough as it was and making over hundred clones in the process would only work to have people find his position and those with enough balls to find him and try to take him on would prove, in the words of one Nara Shikamaru,troublesome-and in the end his search yielding no positive results.

He and his 'team mates' paused however, when they heard a high pitched scream. Jumping down, Naruto, 'Kurama' and 'Kamina' looked to see a young girl around his age with short black hair, pale skin and black eyes. The kunoichi's garb consisted of a red shirt and red pants with a black skirt worn around the pants that reached to just above her knees. She had on a pair of dark coloured shinobi sandals and the red clothed hitai-are she wore around her forehead bore the symbol for Iwagakure.

However, other than the fact that the girl was alone, Naruto and his disguised clones couldn't help but notice the large pair of iguanas that were currently looking at the girl. The girl gritted her teeth before flashing through handsigns and slamming them on the ground. A large earth spike rose up and impaled one of the iguanas through its skull and killed it, but the second iguana lashed out with its tail and slammed it against the Iwa kunoichi's body sending her flying through the air.

However, the kunoichi opened her eyes a few seconds later when she realized she hadn't felt any pain from hitting the ground or a tree or any kind of surface for that matter. She looked up to find herself in the arms of one Uzumaki Naruto before he landed on the ground. 'Kamina' and 'Kurama' landed beside the blonde as the young Iwa kunoichi looked at her saviour...only to slap him.

"Itai. Oi, what was that for?!" He yelled. "I saved your life just now."

"So, I don't need saving, especially from a Konoha shinobi." She growled when she took notice of the blonde's hitai-ate. I need the box that is being held by that giant piece of shit!" The Iwa kunoichi said and Naruto and his two 'team mates' looked to see that the girl was telling the truth as the surviving iguana had a red and black cube...inside its mouth.

"In it's mouth." Naruto deadpanned as he let go of the Iwa kunoichi. Said kunoichi growled at the blonde before standing up and dusting herself off.

"Where are your team mates? Shouldn't they be helping you with this?"

"My team mates are back at the campsite we made. They know I'm strong enough to handle myself and I couldn't call myself the Tsuchikage's granddaughter if I wasn't." She said and then took off towards the brown and black reptile leaving a shocked trio of Narutos due to the bit about her being related to the Tsuchikage.

"Should we help her?" 'Kurama asked.

"I would say we shouldn't, I mean she just said she was the leader of Iwa's granddaughter...but...it's against our principles." 'Kurama' said.

"What principle is that?" Naruto asked.

"Save lovely young ladies in distress. Besides, I hate reptiles."

"We all do, baka." 'Kamina' said. "We're the same person, remember. The boss just makes us look different for the sake of getting through this thing."

"Gotta point there, plus...we get a box too." 'Kurama' grinned mischievously. The blonde and his Henge-ed kagebunshins took off as the Iwa kunoichi jumped over the claw swipe from the iguana only for its extremely long claws to extend from its other forelimb. She twisted, wincing in pain as the claws managed to graze her side. As she landed, she quickly went into a jump to avoid the tail, but the iguana proved to be extremely quick to follow as it suddenly opened its jaws, prepared to eat her with its razor sharp teeth.

The kunoichi's eyes widened only for Naruto's chakra covered foot to crash against its lower jaw and shut the mouth of the lizard.

"I said I didn't need help!" She yelled. 'Kurama' and 'Kamina' slashed at the lizard's backlimbs sending it to the ground, immobile due to its tendons being sliced through by the wind chakra coated ninjatos.

"Well you were about to be eaten so I would assume that you need help." Naruto said as he walked up to the kunoichi. The Iwa shinobi snarled at the blonde before sighing.

"Fine, but I can manipulate the earth so try and take that box and I'll skewer your testicles on an earth spike. Alright?" The Tsuchikage's granddaughter threatened. Naruto's eyes widened as he unconsciously gripped his family jewels in fear.

"Hai, Kunoichi-sama."

"And the name is Kurotsuchi, not kunoichi-sama." She growled before flashing through handsigns.

**"Doton: Doryudan no Jutsu!" **A large earth dragon rose up from the ground and shot forth towards the iguana, but the giant reptile crushed it as it used it surprisingly strong upper body strength to smash its head. However, the iguana suddenly found its attacking forelimb missing as Naruto had sliced through it with his wind enhanced ninjato. 'Kamina' then went beneath the iguana's body and stabbed it in the chest with the ninjato it held, impaling a lung. 'Kurama' then stopped the spasming reptile's desperate movements by slicing off its last usable limb, the right forelimb.

As the iguana was now bleeding profusely and having trouble breathing, Kurotsuchi attacked.

**"Doton: Iwa Girochin!" **A large stone suddenly sprouted out of the ground beneath the iguana's throat and continued its upward movement before decapitating it. The brown and black head of the mighty reptile fell with a dull thud with blood leaking from it. 'Kurama' then opened the monster's jaws wider before reaching in and pulled out the black and red box with a toothy grin present on his face.

"Oi, I believed I threatened to sever your manhood if you took that thing from me! Now give it here, blondie!" Kurotsuchi said, making a 'gimme gimme' motion with her hands. The jinchuriki and his disguised clones looked at one another and then back at the black haired kunoichi before them.

"First of all, the name is Uzumaki Naruto. Secondly, why would I do that? It's an empty threat, I could easily escape with my 'team mates' here." Naruto grinned and he held on to his clones. He then prepared to leap away with his kagebunshins, only to find himself stationary. 'Kurama' and 'Kamina' felt themselves stuck to the ground too and their eyes widened in shock as they looked down at the ground where their sandals were now trapped by a grey coloured substance. Kurotsuchi then walked up to 'Kurama' and snatched the red and black box from him.

"OI!" The red haired boy exclaimed as he aimed to reach for the object only for the Iwa genin to avoid the swipes at her.

"No can do, Uzumaki-san." Kurotsuchi spoke with a sly smile. A copy of the girl then appeared next to her from behind the trio of Konoha shinobi making their eyes widen.

"When did you...?"

"When you were busy with the iguana earlier, I made a countermeasure in case you pulled a stunt like this. I made a **Tsuchibunshin** and had it use my **Yoton: Sekkaigyo no Jutsu** on you three so that it would stick you guys to the ground and allow me to take the box back." She grinned as she noted the angry, yet impressed, looks from the blonde and his 'team mates'. Naruto growled in anger before his eyes flickered crimson as he held up his hands in a cross-shaped handsign.

**"Kagebunshin no Jutsu!" **Suddenly, thirty solid clones of the blonde appeared in multiple plumes of smoke. "Some you guys, get us out of here. The rest of you, attack her and get the box back!"

"Like hell you're getting this." Kurotsuchi said as the clones charged her for an overpowering physical, frontal assault. The Iwa-nin and her earthen clone flashed through handsigns before taking a deep inhalation of air.

"Suiton: Mizurappa!" A blast of water shot forth from both Kurotsuchis' mouths, forming a conical shape like a trumpet's bell. The powerful wave of water washed over the kagebunshins, causing many to dispel from the fore with which they were struck with.

"See ya later, Uzumaki-san. I can tell you're strong so I'll be aiming for a fight with you soon." Kurotsuchi teased as she leaped into the trees. In those few seconds, Naruto was cursing as he finally was able to free himself, 'Kurama' and 'Kamina' from the surprisingly dense material with his clones having finally managed to weaken it with numerous slashes from their ninjatos.

"I'm probably going to regret not getting back that box." He muttered as Kurotsuchi had taken to the trees and head back to her camp.

"Probably...boss, you had it in your hands! You're going to regret not taking the box, period. You better hope we find another box soon then otherwise Ero-kyofu is going to really kill you for not getting into the second part of the exam...and us too." Naruto sighed as he rubbed his head when 'Kurama' hit him at the end of the mini-rant he just did.

After deciding to continue searching for any boxes, Naruto and his 'team mates' made their own kagebunshin hordes to scout the area, only for them to be killed within mere minutes by attacking teams, wild animals and the occasional brawl between each of the clones. Once they found that their search had yielded no results, Team Naruto decided to head back to the camp.

'Kamina' leaped up to the top of a tree and scanned the area through the mist and found that it was dark. The light of the moon managed to penetrate the mist, even if it was only slightly.

'Kuso I can't believe the day when by so quickly.' The blue haired clone thought as he ran back down the tree, using chakra to stick to its surface. As he reached his creator and fellow kagebunshin, 'Kamina' spoke.

"Guys, we have to head back to camp quickly. It's dark out right now and it'll be no help to look for a box now. Let's try again tomorrow."

"Alright, let's head back to the campsite." 'Kurama' agreed. Naruto led the way back to the makeshift campsite. His guard clones had worked on using their Fuuinjutsu skills to create a protective barrier around the area while also gathering some firewood.

"Yo boss." A pair of clones walked up to the original with a fish as big himself in their hands. "Check what we caught, let's eat." Naruto grinned widely at himself before hugging the other two blondes.

"I love Kagebunshins." He cried tears of joy.

"Well...we are you." One of the fish holding clones said.

"But if you love us then does that mean you're gay for us and therefore gay for yourself?" One clone spoke, thus ruining the moment for a bit and resulted in him getting dispelled. Once the fire was made through the use of the wood and a small katon jutsu, the fish was gutted, sliced and cooked before the original and his clones dug into the fish. Once the eating was finished, Naruto yawned before crawling into his sleeping bag.

"Do you guys want to sleep too. I mean I know you guys are clones and all so you don't need it, but I can make more to watch over us and if it's to keep up the disguise as my 'team mates' you two could." Naruto told the red haired and blue haired 'team mates' of his. The two shook their heads at the Raiju Arc user.

"Nah, it's okay boss. Me and 'Kamina' can dispel if you want us to, besides you can always re-create us. You're the human one here so go to sleep, we got a box to find." Naruto nodded and closed his eyes.

"You do realize that once the boss loses enough focus on us during his sleep, we're going to be dispelled." One of the guard kagebunshins said.

"He'll just re-make us. There's no trouble there and it's highly unlikely for us to be found." 'Kamina' said as he put out the fire using a small amount of water from the mist in the air through Raiju Arc to make a small funnel cloud.

"Like Ero-kyofu said, 'Fire, Wind and Lightning are cool elements, but the best element for a shinobi is Shadow'." 'Kurama quoted. The guard clones, 'Kurama' and 'Kamina' continued with their watch while also making sure the 'Barrier' seal protecting their creator's campsite was still intact. However, with the next three hours, they had all been dispelled by Naruto's mind finally having lost its subconscious grip on keeping them in the plane of the living.

_Day 2 _

Naruto yawned as he stretched his limbs, cracking his neck and back in order to relieve the tension in them. He blinked rapidly as his pupils dilated and expanded in order to regulate the amount of light that entered his eyes.

"Alright. This is the second day. I have to find a box by the end of today or else I may be royally fucked, but where would I find a box." Naruto said to himself, tapping his chin in thought. He held up his hands and deactivated his 'Barrier' seal array that surrounded the campsite he and his kagebunshins had made and put all of his campsite's belongings into the storage scroll he carried with him.

'Learning Fuuinjutsu might have been one of the best things I had ever learned.' The blonde jinchuriki thought as he held up the scroll and placed into one of the many pockets that were found on his pants. 'I won't need my kagebunshins to make my 'team mates' until I find a box and reach the facility so I can finally ride solo for this thing.'

Naruto took off through the mist covered landscape, leaping from one tree to the other before dropping down to the ground as he detected a scent as well as heard a pair of loud noises below him. He landed softly and with barely any sound before hiding behind the tree he had dropped from. He peeked out from behind his coverage and saw three genin that appeared at least one year older than him.

One had long red hair that reached just between her shoulder blades and had dark coloured skin, akin to that of a chocolate brown. She wore a black, sleeveless top and long black pants with black shinobi sandals. She had on a pair of golden earring and her hitai-ate was attached to a white cloth which she wore as a hairband, revealing that she and the two people beside her-most likely her team mates, Naruto had thought-were from Kumogakure. Her amber eyes seemed to glow in comparison to the slightly murky area of the Demon's Hunting Ground. A small sword was attached to her back.

The girl appeared to be beating down on a boy with similar skin colour. The boy's black hitai-ate was wrapped around his forehead and his white hair was in a spiky style akin to that of Naruto's. His dark coloured eyes glanced upwards with slight fear towards the girl that was currently attacking him. He wore a dark grey sweater and black pants with black shinobi sandals. His blade was attached to his back, just like the red head's own and in his mouth was a small stick that protruded from between his lips.

Naruto immediately thought it was a cigarette, but when the boy opened his mouth to release a cry of pain from a rather painful blow to his skull, it was revealed to be just a regular red lollipop.

"Karui, Omoi will you two stop arguing. Your noise will get us found and that's not cool." The final member of the Kumo team spoke. Naruto's eyes widened as he noticed the girl, or more specifically, her above average sized breasts.

'Holy shit, they could be as big as Baa-chan's if she keeps this up.' The blonde thought as he stared below the girl's neckline. The Kumo kunoichi had short, straight blonde hair that ended just below her neck. She had pale blue eyes and cream coloured skin making her contrast greatly with her team mates. She wore a short grey dress of somesort over a mesh undershirt and a dark grey skirt. She had on a pair of red hand guards and high boots. Her tanto was strapped to her lower back.

"Gomen nasai, Samui-san." The boy, now known as Omoi, spoke. "But Karui keeps commenting on how she wants to hit somebody and if she hits somebody, it could result in conflict and what if that person she hits is somebody of high stature of a foreign village and she has to marry that person or kill herself in order to stop a potential war between Kumo and that village and what if the result of that is..."

"Omoi, URASAI!" Karui slammed her fist down on Omoi's skull, silencing him as he released a hiss of pain.

'She's like Kumo's version of Sakura.' Naruto sweatdropped at the thought. Samui rolled her eyes.

"Omoi, stop overreacting and Karui stop yelling, it's not cool. Now come on, we have to find that box in order to advance through this first test. We've already wasted an entire day trying to find this land spot in order to escape the marshes where those giant reptiles lived." Samui said. Omoi and Karui nodded, but just as they were about to move on, a large stomping sound was heard and the Kumo nin, as well as Naruto, stared in awe at the giant Great Blue Heron that came stalking through the trees.

The bird's large eyes zeroed in on the Kumo team before it reared its head up. A loud screech echoed through the air as it struck, its beak digging into the dirt as Team Samui leaped apart to avoid the attack. Naruto continued to watch as the bird of prey within the wetland area continued to strike at Team Samui.

"Raiton: Rakurai no Jutsu!" Omoi yelled as he finished his series of handsigns. A bolt of blue lightning shot forth from is finger tips and struck the heron in its chest, electrocuting it slightly, but due to its large size, it had a high rate of recovery and so it spread its wings. One wing slammed against a tree while the other sent Omoi into another tree. His back clashed painfully with the bark leaving a noticeable indentation in it as he dropped to the ground, but Karui was able to jump in front of him to stab the bird's beak with her lightning chakra infused tanto. Karui soared through the air, tanto in hand, as she was able to yank it free when the heron threw its back in pain. Karui then panted her feet firmly against the bark of the tree she aimed to ricochet off of and stabbed the Great Blue Heron through its left wing. Blood flowed from the wound before the smell of burning flesh met the atmosphere as Karui infused lightning chakra into the conductive blade once more.

Omoi shook his head as he stood back up before sending another Raikurai no Jutsu at the bird, striking it in the eye this time. The great bird screeched once more in pain as it was now lacking the use of its left eyeball which was now a bleed and burning mass of flesh. Karui and Omoi then leaped up against trees that were parallel to one another before landing against a tree that lay directly behind the pained bird. They leaped off of the tree with enough force to crack the bark and channelled chakra into their feet sending the bird downwards from the force of the dual kicking strikes to the joint in its legs, bringing it to its knees. Samui then leaped up at the bird's throat before twisting as she drew her tanto.

**"Kumo-Ryu: Omotegiri!" **She charged chakra into the blade and sliced the bird's throat cleanly causing a massive amount of blood to pool in the bird's mouth as well as causing the red liquid to spill from the wound. The large bird stepped backwards before falling to the ground with a gurgled screech. Within a matter of seconds, the tertiary consumer of the Hunting Ground's food chain had died.

Naruto stared in awe at how the three had taken down the Great Blue Heron.

"Sugoi!" He yelled a bit too loudly. He covered his mouth with his hands and aimed to duck back behind his hiding spot, but it was too late. Team Samui had caught sight of the blonde jinchuriki.

"Who are you?" Samui asked with a cold tone. "It is not cool to try and attack a proud shinobi of Kumogakure no Sato."

Naruto raised his arms in a feeble defense. "Oi, now hold on there, kunoichi-san. I was just looking for a box myself when I came across you guys fighting that bird. Though I must say, I am very impressed. You guys took it down like it was nothing."

"Well, we are a pretty good team." Karui said with a large amount of exaggerated pride in her voice. Naruto nodded before looking at Omoi and waved.

"Do you have any more of those lollipops?" Naruto asked innocently. Samui, Karui and Omoi looked at each other with surprised looks. This Konoha shinobi had just appeared out of the blue, complimented them on their skills...and now was asking Omoi for a lollipop.

"Just who the hell are you?" Karui asked.

"I am..." He was cut off as Omoi suddenly began another exaggerated rant as to he was.

"He's probably one of those shinobi that try to gain your trust and then slit your throat or stabs you in the back, and I mean that both literally and figuratively. Or maybe he's secretly as examiner from Kiri that is under the guise of a Konoha shinobi in order to trick us or maybe..."

"OMOI, URASAI!"

"Gomen. My team mates are very uncool when they argue." Samui spoke, but her cold gaze still remained.

"It's okay, but I can understand your team mates' mistrust. I am a foreign shinobi in this exam and I am a fellow competitor who can most likely kill you..." Team Samui tensed at that, "but I won't." He said quickly, raising his arms to show he wasn't going to do anything violent.

"Where are your team mates? From what I heard, Konoha is a very strict nation when it comes to teamwork." Samui said. Naruto blinked at his fellow blonde.

"We split up." He came up with an excuse right then and there. "In order to find the box to move on, we decided to split up and cover more ground. Say, seeing as how I'm alone and stuff...you guys want to maybe work together. I know you guys are a team and all, but maybe we can help each other out. We can find a box for one another, but...I won't make a promise that I won't take the first box we find."

"You're surprisingly honest for someone who aims to use us. Usually people tend to remain quiet about it." Karui said as she and her team mates had sheathed their blades once realizing Naruto had truly meant them no harm. Naruto shrugged at the red haired girl's comment.

"It's a blessing and a curse, but you'd be very surprised at how well I can lie." Naruto winked at the amber eyed girl causing her to gain a slightly flustered look.

"Well, I apologize for denying you the opportunity, but we will not be willing to work with you." The sole fair skinned member of the Kumogakure team spoke. Naruto waved his hand at Samui.

"It's no problem, Samui-san. Karui-san, Omoi-san...I bid you adieu then, I hope to fight you should we be able to move on to the rounds of this Chunin Exam where we fight one another."

"Chotto Matte!" Omoi yelled. "How do you know our names?"

"Well, you guys were practically yelling it out when I found you three. By the way...name's Naruto. Uzumaki Naruto, shinobi of Konohagakure no Sato. See ya." Naruto then held up his hands in the ram sign and disappeared in a swirl of wind and a spark of lightning.

"That was pretty cool." Samui commented on the blonde's exit.

"Really, Samui?!"

"Uzumaki Naruto...he must be a powerful shinobi sent to wipe out all of the genin and is hoping to add us to his shinobi army to take over the continent and then he'll us!"

"OMOI, URASAIII!" Karui roared as she pounded her white haired team mate into the dirt.

Naruto reappeared in a swirl of wind and the sparks of lightning crackled beneath his feet as he landed on the ground.

"Hmm...**Raiju Arc: Shunshin** still needs some work. The lightning still tingles a bit." Naruto said as he shook his slightly numbed body. "I hope I will be able to fight one or all three of those Kumo shinobi. They seemed pretty strong."

**"Especially the one with the huge knockers." **Kurama teased the blonde causing him to blush crimson.

'Urasai, baka-kitsune!' Naruto mentally shouted.

**"This is not the time to be teasing the boy, Kurama. He needs to find that box to advance through this test, but the thing is that we have no idea where they would hide it." **Kamina spoke, but a teasing grin suddenly found its way to the Raiju's face. **"Maybe it's hidden in that Samui girl's cleavage."**

'KAMINA-SENSEI!' Naruto blushed even more at the mental images the two powerful beings were sending him of him putting his hands on Samui's breasts. 'Stupid perverted all-powerful beings who just can't shut up.' Naruto grumbled as he looked around Training Ground 666. He then decided that the forested area of the training ground proved to have no results.

'Maybe the swamp area has some clues or the exact location of a box. I had immediately left that place when I saw the weird stuff in there, but never checked it out.' Naruto thought before heading towards the swampy area. As soon as he made his way to the edge of the swamp/marshy area of the Demon's Hunting Ground, naruto surveyed the area and saw the murky waters through the slight amount of fog that covered it. He channelled chakra into his feet and walked atop the water, fingering the hilt of the ninjato that he kept strapped to his back.

The sound of croaking frogs, buzzing of insect wings and the low growls of whatever carnivorous creatures that lived in the marsh assaulted Naruto's ears, his blue eyes scanning the area for anything that would be out of the ordinary...or at least something that would try to eat him and spit out his bones.

"Kuso...I wish I could just find a damn box and get the hell out of this place. It's making me itchy." He said as he scratched his scalp. However, Naruto was unaware of the creatures that saw Naruto's pause in movement, minus his itching, as a chance to strike. Like the saying goes, 'Be careful what you wish for'. Naruto's eyes widened as a loud hiss met his ears and suddenly a large anaconda launched itself at him. He drew his ninjato and slashed the snake completely in half as its forward motion allowed its open maw to meet the horizontally held ninjato that was coated in wind chakra. Snake blood and organs fell into the waters, but that was when three more anacondas reared their heads, gazing at their prey with evil yellow eyes.

"Well this is just fucking great." Naruto spoke sarcastically. The anacondas hissed before one lashed out at Naruto, aiming to swallow him whole.

"I've been eaten by a snake once already, I won't be eaten again!" Naruto embedded his blade into the serpent's skull, stabbing into its brain. He then used his ninjato as an anchor and allowed himself to flip atop the dead anaconda's head before jumping up to avoid the second bite from the other anaconda. The third one lashed out with its lengthy tail, but the blonde jinchuriki flashed through handsigns and activated his true secondary chakra nature of fire.

**"Katon: Goukakyu no Jutsu!" **The large fireball burned the appendage of the anaconda causing it to hiss in pain and cause it to douse it in order to stop the fires from burning it further. Naruto was still airborne at the time and so the second anaconda had struck, forming a spiral around Naruto's form, but before it could trap Naruto in its death grip, the blue eyed Raiju Arc user struck rapidly with his blade.

**"Uzumaki-ryu: Taifuu Renpatsu!" **Naruto unleashed a flurry of sword strike that were too fast for the normal eye to see. The anaconda suddenly froze as it was about to grip Naruto with its length form before numerous slash marks, with blood gushing outwards from every mark, littered its body. The eyes of the serpent suddenly became lifeless and it crashed into the murky waters of the mixed ecosystem.

'Given that this place is a mixture of a mangrove, a swamp, a marsh and a rainforest all in one...I shouldn't be surprised if I see things like this, but god damn it why do I always get attacked by the dangerous shit!' Naruto yelled in his mind as he landed on the waters. The third and final anaconda hissed as it stared at Naruto, now aware of the danger its prey posed and so it looked for a smarter tactic.

"Come on, you stupid reptile." Naruto flicked his blade, ridding it of the snake blood. "I'm not going to hurt you...I'll fucking kill you." Naruto gave the yellow eyed creature a rather sadistic grin akin to that of his bijuu's. He channelled chakra into his ninjato before slicing the air.

**"Uzumaki-ryu: Kazegiri!" **A distortion in the air suddenly graced the large serpent's presence and a large diagonal slash formed on its body causing it to hiss in pain before diving beneath the murky waters. Naruto cursed as he looked over the water, for a shadow or bubble...any sign that would make him aware of the anaconda's presence.

"Kuso...come on you dirty hebi." Naruto muttered. A bubble popped behind him and he leaped into the air, but it was for naught as the anaconda's lengthy form easily caught up to him and the reptile swallowed him like the tiny morsel he was. The snake licked its lips as it gave a nod of approval for finally eating its blonde prey. However, it suddenly froze and the top half of its body was cut through cleanly as a thing circle of chakra burst out of its body.

**"Uzumaki-ryu: Enken!" **The anaconda's body fell to the ground as Naruto leaped out of the sliced serpent. Naruto groaned.

"Kuso...that's the second time...and during the same damn exam too." Naruto paused as he sniffed himself and recoiled in disgust. "And now I smell like snake guts...AGAIN! WHY KAMI-SAMA, DO YOU HATE ME OR SOMETHING?!" He yelled at the mist covered sky. His question was answered in the form of five anacondas, six tiger fish, one dozen mutated dragonflies and a trio of giant snapping turtles bursting forth from the waters and the air, surrounding him.

'Yeah...Kami-sama hates me.' However, before he could prepare to fight with these reptiles...a loud roar echoed through the air. The blonde was placed into a state of confusion as he noticed the creatures surrounding him had now decided to fly away or dive beneath the water in what seemed to be out of fear. A few moments of silence greeted the jinchuriki. He blinked in confusion when he felt something beneath him and then a large amount of bubbles appeared in front of him. Naruto continued to stare at the bubbles before a large pillar of water shot up, dousing Naruto, but he was a bit thankful for it seeing as how it got rid of the anaconda's flesh that covered his body and ninjato.

The water pillar then fell and Naruto could only drag his hand down his face in anger and frustration as he stared at the gigantic bipedal lizard that lay before him. Its scales were a deep green and its forelimbs were now akin to muscular arms with five sharp claws on each one. Its back had many large, silver spines protruding outwards and descended all the way to the tip of its large tail. Its deep yellow eyes seemed to glow, but Naruto noticed something around the giant monster's neck. It was a collar and a name tag.

"Gojira." He read before sweatdropping.

"Reptiles hate me." He deadpanned.

**"No kidding, kit." **

'Not now, Kyuubi.' Naruto answered the nine tailed fox. However, though Gojira the mutated reptile scared the fuck out of the blonde, his fear was replaced by surprise and joy as he saw something else hanging from the collar's nametag. Could it be? It was!

"A BOX!" He yelled in surprise. The blonde pumped his fists into the air before noticing the shadow that covered his form.

**"NARUTO LOOK OUT!" **Kamina's voice caused Naruto to take notice of his situation. His eyes quickly changed from happy to serious as he quickly channelled chakra into his feet and took off in a burst of speed, avoiding the giant tail of Gojira. Gojira roared as it looked around for Naruto's form. Naruto appeared in the giant lizard's face making its yellow eyes widen in shock.

Naruto flashed through handsigns before clapping his hands together.

**"Raiju Arc: Raiu!" **A large cumulonimbus cloud suddenly coated Naruto's hands before a blast of wind and blue lightning shot forth and crashed into Gojira with the booming sound of thunder resounding through the air. Gojira roared in pain, but quickly recovered and slashed at Naruto, his large forehand sending Naruto flying through the air and into the water. The blonde quickly resurfaced, only to be forced to dive back under to avoid the sweeping tail of the bipedal reptile.

Gojira growled before his yellow eyes shone brighter and it released a blast of green flame from its jaws.

"REALLY?! It can breathe FIRE?!" Naruto yelled as he resurfaced behind the giant lizard. He quickly climbed atop the surface of the water before channelling wind chakra into his ninjato.

**"Uzumaki-ryu: Kazegiri!" **The blades of wind shot at Gojira, but the hard and seemingly indestructible scales caused the attacks to not really affect the beast. The blonde cursed as Gojira took notice of the impacts however and it turned and roared at the blonde. The Kyuubi jinchuriki flew through the air from the shockwave that the roar generated and slammed into a tree. A blast of green flames followed after, but Naruto quickly performed **Kawarimi no Jutsu **with a nearby water weed before taking a deep breath as he finished a set of handsigns.

**"Katon: Karyuuendan no Jutsu!" **He yelled as the orange flames morphed into that of a dragon. The fire dragon slammed into Gojira's body causing a small explosion and burned the creature slightly. Naruto then used the smoke from his attack as a cover and to the eyes of Gojira, he had appeared to have disappeared. The blonde had reappeared behind the overgrown lizard and formed his signature jutsu.

In a large plume of smoke, three hundred clones formed around the original Kyuubi jinchuriki.

"Alright, one hundred of you will make the first company. The next hundred will be second company. The last of you are with me. First company, distract and bring it to its knees. Attack the back of its knees and its back to push into the water. Second company, immobilize with Raiju Arc. The rest of you, we hit it hard and kick that Gojira monster's ass." Naruto ordered.

"HAI!" Was the resounding reply from the kagebunshins. However, they had said the response a bit too loud as Gojira had heard it and it turned around with a roar. The large shockwave and wave of water that resulted from the roar sent clones soaring despite them holding onto the water with chakra. However, they managed to recover and not be dispelled.

The first company of clones then decided to carry out the first stage of Naruto's plan. The first company split into a fifty-fifty group. The first fifty began distracting it by throwing numerous explosive kunais and launching various katon and fuuton jutsus at it. Gojira roared before releasing a tongue of emerald fire, burning at least thirty five clones in one shot. The swipe of its claws had ended the lives of the remainder. However, the other fifty had taken the chance to get back behind the beast once its focus had returned back to the distraction clones and they all flashed through handsigns.

**"Fuuton: Kami Oroshi!" **Powerful bursts of wind cumulated around each clone before shooting forth and crashing into the gigantic reptile's back sending t stumbling forward. The B-ranked Fuuton jutsu had the ability to carve a trench into the ground and spear through trees, thus fifty of them would have had more than enough power to send Gojira stumbling despite its powerful scales. Falling to its knees, Gojira snarled with rage, its yellow eyes burning with anger. Another blast of wind impacted with its back, however, Gojira proved to be very resilient as it was quick to counterattack. Its large, heavy tail swept across the waters, sending many kagebunshins to their deaths. It turned its head and a green fireball shot forth and ended the first company's population.

Despite that, Naruto saw the chance for the second company to strike.

"IKUZO!" The clones charged forth, circling the gargantuan reptile.

**"Raiton: Jibashi!" **Slamming their palms on the water after finishing their handsigns. Using the lightning element from the Raiju Arc kekkai genkai, the first company clones sent forth great amounts of electrical energy across the conductive surface. The attack sped towards Gojira and the massive lizard released a roar of pain as its body was electrocuted by approximately thousands of volts of electricity. Its body smoked as it fell to its knees, but the muscles contracted and relaxed at random intervals too quickly causing its arms to give out as well when it collapsed onto all fours thus bringing the beast down flat onto its stomach.

It released a low growl, but then the second company of clones landed atop Gojira's body and slammed their hands down on its limbs after forming another string of handsigns.

**"Fuuinjutsu: Hebi Ketsugou!" **A multitude of seals suddenly sprung forth from their hands and true to its name, snaked its way around the large reptile's limbs and some parts of its tail and torso. Gojira roared in anger, releasing torrents of fire that took out a bit of the second company's forces. However, the third company and the original Naruto took their chance. With the bound lizard now in place, they had all leaped into the air and charged chakra into the centre of their palms. The Rasengan swirled to life before growing slightly larger in size, to that of a basketball.

**"NINPOU: ODAMA RASENGAN RENDAN!" **Naruto roared as he and one hundred clones bombarded Gojira with powerful spheroids of rotating chakra. Gojira released a loud roar that echoed through the atmosphere of the Demon's Hunting Ground. The birds that lived in the area flew into the air out of fear and the large burst of chakra could have been felt half way through the entire first quadrant and a bit by its adjacent quadrants. The bombardment resulted in a large dome of chakra forming and a large wave of water crashed against the mangrove trees that lay on the shores and a large crater with water swirling around it, formed. The water then began to fill the crater allowing the immobile body of Gojira, who had a lone Naruto standing atop its form, to float to the surface, belly up.

Gojira had chaka burns and areas that were bleeding from the spiralling chakra orbs on its back. Naruto reached over to Gojira's collar and tugged the red and black box that hung it.

"VICTORY IS MINE!" Naruto whooped as he held the box high. As he said that, the numerous creatures that had surrounded him prior to Gojira's arrival had reappeared, bursting forth from the mist covered waters and the birds and insects descended from the skies. Suddenly, Naruto was being bowed down to by the numerous fauna of Training Ground 666.

"N-N-Nani?!" He exclaimed.

**"I'm impressed kit. It appeared that the giant lizard you fought just now was the leader of these creatures and now that you've defeated them...you are now the leader of this place it seems." **Kurama spoke.

"Nani?! How could you tell that?" Naruto said outloud.

**"Well it's the only logical explanation that would explain your situation. I mean, honesty kit, how else are you, a mere ningen, have gained the respect and apparent loyalty of all these animals?" **The giant kitsune argued. Naruto tapped his foot on Gojira's scaly stomach for a moment before nodding.

"I guess you're right." He said as he gave a small, unsure wave to the animal populace that surrounded him. A low growl was suddenly heard below him and Naruto raised an eyebrow in surprise as he saw Gojira was still conscious, but barely.

"Hmm, you really are one tough reptile. All of that and you're still alive." Naruto commented. Gojira's yellow eyes stared at Naruto as the blonde formed a handsign. The monster flinched, but its eyes widened in surprise as the binding seals had disappeared. The beast growled in confusion.

**"Your new friend wants to know why you don't kill him?" **Kamina translated for him. Naruto raised a curious eyebrow.

'You can understand it?' He asked. The Raiju nodded inside of Naruto's mind.

**"Of course. Gojira here is actually a descendant of an ancient set of beasts that had long since been extinct. A Kaiju. However, Gojira is the sole survivor apparently as I had bared witness to the fall of the Kaiju when my master, Raijin, and the other elemental gods had to wipe them out as their immense powers were beginning to go out of control and causing worldwide disasters." **Kamina explained. Naruto smirked at Gojira and patted the beast's nose.

"So you're the last of your kind too, huh Gojira?" The yellow eyes lizard diverted its eyes from Naruto's before giving a slow nod. "Well so am I." Naruto said. Gojira's eyes faced Naruto once more at that. The scaled behemoth gave a series of snarls and roars before slowly grabbing Naruto in its forehand and standing up. Naruto cursed as he tried to free himself only to be dropped atop Gojira's head.

"You're going to help me now?" Naruto asked. The Kaiju descendant gave a positive nod causing Naruto to shake its head in amusement. "Well this is interesting. Well then, Gojira...can you take me to the centre of this Training Ground?"

Gojira tilted its head in confusion, nearly causing Naruto to fall off as he gripped the spines the large, well large in comparison to Naruto, spines that protruded from atop Gojira's skull. It then gave a low roar in response.

**"Gojira asks if you mean the strange structure where the humans have been said to go to." **Naruto thanked Kamina for the translation before answering.

"Hai. The very same. If you could get me there as fast as you can, that would help." Gojira gave a roar as if Naruto had challenged it before diving beneath the waters, Naruto holding on for dear life, as Gojira sped through the murky water at speeds Naruto could never hope to achieve.

'I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die!' Naruto cried anime tears when Gojira leaped out of the water in a manner to show off to the new leader of the Demon's Hunting Ground. The jinchuriki's body flailing wildly like a rag doll's.

_**Demon's Hunting Ground- Chunin Exam Facility**_

The large building that lay in the centre of Kirigakure's most notorious and fearsome training ground was a large facility. It was made of grey stone and steel that allowed it to endure the elements. The building was rectangular in shape. It was taller than any other building in all of Kirigakure, save for the Mizukage's tower of course. It was coloured a combination of grey, white and black in order to blend in with the surroundings of the mist covered, mixed ecosystem. The structure had four columns, which were watchtowers in actuality, that were placed at each of the four corners of the facility. There was only entrance to the facility and that was through the front entrance and even then it was difficult to break through should one choose to, as the doors themselves were made of chakra reinforced steel and could be opened by an employee or in the case of this year's Chunin Exams, by someone who held one of the red and black boxes.

The ANBU Hunter-nin guards that were positioned within each of the watchtowers kept a watchful eye on the surrounding mangrove-marsh that surrounded the facility.

"So, do you think anyone else will get through. So far, only six teams have gotten through to this place so far." One guard commented. The masked Hunter-nin shrugged at his fellow ANBU Hunter-nin member.

"I don't know, but it's only been one day. Those gakis still have today and the end of tomorrow to complete this first exam."

"True, but...hey what's that?!" The guards paused as they heard a loud stomping sound. The Hunter-nins, even the ones within the towers that weren't positioned where the two currently speaking ones were located at, were able to feel the tremors.

"What the hell?!"

"Is that...GOJIRA?!" The hunter-nin exclaimed.

"Yeah and he's coming this way! Why is Gojira coming here?!" The Hunter-nins suddenly began to mobilize and stood at the ready in case the grounds' most powerful creature decided to attack. However, they were in shock, for when the gargantuan reptile stopped in front of the facility, it dropped down on all fours (resulting in another tremor) revealing Naruto with two kagebunshins transformed into his fake team mates, 'Kurama' and 'Kamina'. Naruto held up the box that would be required for his entry into the area and tossed it at one of the surprised ANBU who quickly reacted and grabbed the object.

"Arigatou, Gojira! Keep this place in line, okay? I'm not going to be around this place often." The green scaled, yellow eyed beast gave a bestial roar before giving a toothy grin at the blonde before turning and walking away.

"Y-Y-You...tamed Gojira?" The Hunter-nins all stared through their masks with disbelief.

"How d-d-did you d-do that?" One asked. Naruto, 'Kurama' and 'Kamina' grinned toothily.

"Easy...we beat him." His response would have caused their jaws to hit the ground, but they refrained from doing so, despite their want to. "Now then...if you don't mind...I'd like to get in here please." The blonde and his 'team mates' pointed at the large towering piece of infrastructure.

"Uh, Hai!" The Hunter-nin that had caught Naruto's tossed box walked over to the door and placed his hand against the steel door before sending a pulse of chakra through it. A compartment in the wall on the left suddenly opened up and the Hunter-nin placed the red and black box within the square shaped slot that was there. Another pulse chakra was released before a grid-like pattern made entirely of chakra sped across the wall and over the door. A loud clank was heard as the tumblers in the doors began to turn and the doors slowly opened. Naruto looked at his disguised kage bunshins and nodded before walking through the doors.

'Now let's see what you guys on in store for me.'

_**(A/N: Well guys that's it for this chapter. I hope you guys are satisfied with it. Next chapter will be a small little intermission before the end of third day in which XxheavendragonxX will move on to write the next chapter and the second part of the Chunin Exams. However, like myself, he is extremely busy with school and also he is not feeling well so that will make the update speed slower. Hope you guys can forgive us for the inconveniences. Again, I hope you like this chapter and remember to Review, Review, Review!)**_

_**Translations:**_

_**Tsuchibunshin- Earth Clone **_

_**Suiton: Mizubunshin no Jutsu-Water Release: Water Clone Technique**_

_**Fuuin:Kai- Seal: Release**_

_**Fuuinjutsu: Kara Ori- Sealing Technique: Empty Box**_

_**Raiju Arc: Shougeki- Raiju Arc: Shockwave**_

_**Doton: Doryuudan no Jutsu- Earth Release: Earth Dragon Bomb Technique**_

_**Doton: Iwa no Girochin- Earth Release: Stone Guillotine**_

_**Yoton: Sekkaigyo no Jutsu- Lava Release: Quicklime Congealing Technique**_

_**Suiton: Mizurappa- Water Release: Water Trumpet**_

_**Kumo-ryu: Omotegiri- Cloud Style: Front Beheading**_

_**Raiton: Rakurai no Jutsu- Lightning Release: Thunderbolt Technique**_

_**Raiju Arc: Shunshin- Raiju Arc: Body Flicker**_

_**Katon: Goukakyu no Jutsu- Fire Release: Grand Fireball Technique**_

_**Uzumaki-ryu: Taifuu Renpatsu- Uzumaki Style: Typhoon Barrage**_

_**Uzumaki-ryu: Kazegiri- Uzumaki Style: Wind Cutter**_

_**Uzumaki-ryu: Enken- Uzumaki Style: Circle Sword**_

_**Raiju Arc: Raiu- Raiju Arc: Thunderstorm**_

_**Kawarimi no Jutsu- Substitution Technique**_

_**Katon: Karyuuendan no Jutsu- Fire Release: Fire Dragon Missile Technique**_

_**Tajuu Kagebunshin no Jutsu- Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu**_

_**Fuuton: Kami Oroshi- Wind Style: Godly Wind from the Mountains**_

_**Raiton: Jibashi- Lightning Release: Electromagnetic Murder**_

_**Fuuinjutsu: Hebi Ketsugou- Sealing Technique: Snake Bind**_

_**Ninpou: Odama Rasengan Rendan- Ninja Art: Giant Spiralling Sphere Barrage**_

_**Favourite, Comment, Review!**_

_**XxdivinedragonxX**_

_**Kitsunedragon**_

_**REVIEW!**_


	5. Chapter 5

**Authors Note: hey everyone, D.D. here with a new chapter for cry of Raiju, sorry it took me so long to make this chapter, I have a life and I've been playing Black 2 and school has been driving me crazy, but thankfully it's on the verge of coming to an end this quarter, that means I get a month break so expect my Jinchurriki or the Apocalypse story to be done for those who read it and expect a new story from the ones I have listed out on the newest chapter. **

**Firstly I'm going to give my props for my partner Kitsune for making the last chapter awesome, I'm hoping to make this chapter just as good. **

**Second, I want to let you guys know that I will be having two major papers due for my two main classes, one shouldn't really take me more than two or three days to write, but the last paper might take awhile since it needs to be around 8 - 10 pages (got to love and hate political science) So for those who read jinchurriki I won't be writing on thanksgiving week, I'll be doing research and hopefully building up on my term paper. (This is why high school felt so much simpler, aside from the drama and the immaturity) **

**Aside from all those tings I will be happy to present you with the new chapter, expect a lot of build up from here with some minor characters and a large summary build up on Naruto's bloodline, for that I hope you will enjoy it.**

**KitsuneDragon: Hey guys, now DD here has been suffering from a bit of writer's block for this current chapter, so I have taken it upon myself as his partner, to do it instead. Afterwards, he will do the following two chapters, after which we will go back into the regular alternating chapter plan we originally have. So without further ado, I present to you, your preliminary fights.**

**Chapter 5: Cold Fire in the Preliminaries**

Naruto, to say the least, was hoping or more or less, expecting to have about the same number of people in the preliminary match up in the Chunin exams like the one he had contended about two years ago, though to say the least it wasn't much like he hoped. Honestly he was simply disappointed, aside from his 'team', there was only about five other teams in here, consisting of about 18 people total, including his group. It had been the last day since the last group came here, that meant five days of rest and some brief training and studying of seals, which wasn't too bad, though by the time he was done with his minor sessions he grew bored. In the words of Shikamaru, he know all to well that this was troublesome.

The proctor of the exam was a young man who had sharp teeth and wore glasses, carrying a big sword behind him. Naruto had seen him somewhere though he couldn't recall where, he wasn't too familiar with specific faces, but it didn't matter as of now, the roll call had soon begun for all Genin to appear in front of the proctor. As they all gathered the proctor shifted a little as he was was either uncomfortable doing this or he was just simply too nervous for his own good.

"H-hello everyone m-my name I Chojuro and I will be the proctor for this years C-Chunin exams in Kirigakure." He stated fidgeting a little.

_'Oh for the love of Kami, he's like a male version of Hinata, except he doesn't have the Byakugan and he's got sharper teeth.' _He thought as he sighed mentally.

**"Who is this Hinata woman, she sounds like a beauty."** Kamina said receiving a loud snort from the Kyuubi in return.

_'Well I admit she's cute…if she didn't pass out on me all the time, stutter and stalk me from behind like I was some type of prey.' _Naruto told Kamina, 'Trust me, if you were in my shoes and after realizing this for Kami knows how long from being a total dumb ass that I played out to be then you'd know what I mean. Damn, I think playing dumb made me a little stupid in of itself during the academy.'

**"No, not really. You were just that stupid, boy."** Kurama said.

_'Fuck you too, Kurama!' _Naruto told the great Kitsune, receiving a chuckle from Kamina and a low growl from Kurama. Naruto then cut off his link and returned to listen to the proctor finishing his last moments of his speech.

"N-now, if anyone wishes to leave and not partake in the preliminaries you are free to go." Chojuro said as looked at the participants, seeing if any of them wanted to leave the vicinity.

Naruto gazed upon his clones and nodded to them briefly, and then grunted slightly as they raised their hands up. "We would like to forfeit, we are running low on chakra and I'm just too stressed out after facing that damn giant lizard with my team." Said 'Kurama' gruffly before putting his hand down along with the other clone. This got a lot of the Kiri shinobi muttering as they heard about the rumors of a team, more or less, a boy from said team whom managed to tame the legendary beast that they call Gojira. Some of the Genin looked warily as well as surprised, aside from one Omoi and Samui, who were staring at the doppelgangers intensively as well as their blonde teammate.

Chojuro looked at the two and nodded. "H-hai, alright, now if you -" He was cut off as two wads of red hot lava shot at the clones, poofing them out of existence which cause Chojuro to be confused before looking back and gazing at the beautiful Mizukage.

Naruto gazed up at her before slightly feeling a slight chill down his spine as she gazed upon him with interest, but above all, he coud feel like she was giving off a hint of lust deep within those green eyes.

"A report from one of my Anbu came to me while they were on watch in the residence of the training ground and noticed something odd about your teammates, Uzumaki-san. Though it wasn't your teammates that handled Gojira, but you." She said as she smiled. "While in this case I would have to state that what you have done was rash, even if you're an experienced Genin and should be at a much higher level as Jiraiya-san tells me."

Many of the remaining Genin looked over at the boy with interest, the group of Kiri Genin aside from two were scared just as much as surprised. Kurotsuchi stared at the blonde with a unsettled gaze, mixed with anger, but impressed with the boys skill even though he looked vaguely familiar to her. The Kumo team bared a sudden interest, though the red headed female screamed out on how could he travel through the ground site with just himself and a pair of clones.

Samui stared at him with a cook gaze and neutral face. _'A Genin shouldn't have that type of skill facing the rumoured Dragon of the Mist. in to tame the beast. He must be around high Chunin level if that were the case. I've heard rumors that it would take the Mizukage or the Jonin' _She thought.

Naruto rubbed the back of his head and sweat dropped slightly. "G-Gomen nasai Mizukage-sama, I just was to excited about being chunin." He said.

Mei looked at him with sweet smile. Oh such a cute, innocent boy. He was so interesting. "That's okay Naruto-kun, just be glad I will permit you to continue on with the Chunin exams." Naruto smiled brightly. "But…do something like that and well..I'll simply have to punish you" She said, her voice cold as ice with a vibrant calmness to it. It sent chills down Naruto's spine thinking of the strange and horrendous tortures that the woman could do to him.

_'Is it just does the thought of being tortured by her...turn me on?' _me or He questioned to himself though of course receiving an answer.

**"You're kidding right, if I were you I would ravage those bountiful tits of hers and claim her on the spot, though of course, of course that is if I had a human form"** Kurama thought, though quickly getting the odd idea of using Naruto's body for such a purpose.

**"As much as hate to admit it, the fox is right"** The Raiju called out in his fox-like lightning form.** "Her beauty is quite exquisite, fit to match the beauty of the Izanami, Amaterasu, Tsukuyomi, or even the that of Kushina'da. Few human women are ever blessed with such beauty and should be honoured to hold it with pride."**

Naruto paused as he heard the names, _'Say those names sound familiar, especially the Kushina'da lady, who are they?' _Naruto asked Kamina.

Kamina paused as he silent for a brief moment and closed his eyes and hummed, **"They are the late Goddesses of this world, the power they held though is quite similar to the Uchiha clan dugouts techniques, though on a greater scale of course. Kushina'da though was a wife to a powerful God, a hero in many ways, but was just as much a being whose anger should not be dealt with. Your clan, in the old times, had great pride knowing this, which I guess is why your grandparents named your mother after Kushina'da."** he said softly.

Naruto looked at Kamina with puzzlement, he made it sound like something bad happened to them. _'You meant by late…do you mean-'_

**"It's another story for another time Naruto, I'll tell you when necessary, but it's time for you to pay attention. I believe it's almost time for the matches to begin."** The deity laid in the sewer as he closed his eyes, ignoring the gaze of Naruto whom was leaving his mindscape and the eyes of the crimson fox who knew what the Raiju meant.

Dazed eyes cleared, Naruto began to not mute out the outside conversations for the proctor that was talking about the brief discussion about the preliminaries and was finally near the end point. Naruto was indeed feeling the vast familiarity between this exam and the last exam he took, except, of course, less people. He had hoped to get some sort of challenge in this exam, but he didn't want to get his expectations too high. After all, these were Genin, yet Genin can sometimes be on the level of even Jonin if necessary and he was proof of that of course.

"Now that I've said everything that needed to be said the screening board will match the first two competitors of the preliminaries, the rest of you will, of course, sit on the sidelines in the upper levels of the area." Chojuro said looking up at the board.

Naruto gave a glance up at the board as names were juggling around the board before one name came and then later, another one appeared, his eyes were less focused now as he closed his eyes and smirked, it may have not been his turn, but it was one member from the Kumo team that he believed was possibly one of the better of all challengers here.

**Samui vs. Akatsuchi**

"Alright everyone, the next match shall now commence, now please leave the premises of the arena and got onto the second level." Chojuro said before glancing at the Mizukage, who gave him a nod of approval. This elicited a sigh of relief from the young boy before moving to the centre of the floor where the two competitors were facing each other.

"SAMUI OF KUMO VS. AKATSUCHI OF IWA...HAIJIME!" Chojuro called the start of the match, leaping aside as soon as he called 'Haijime', to the sidelines next to his fellow Kiri shinobi and viewing the battle which was about to start.

Once everyone left the floor Samui glanced at the joyful looking, pudgy young male who simply retained a smile of his face. She observed her opponent's appearance. The boy, Akatsuchi, was rather large in both height and girth. He had a large nose with dark coloured eyes. His body was thick, but despite his pudgy appearance, she could tell he probably possessed a great amount of strength. He wore the regular red coloured outfit that all typical Iwa shinobi wore, minus the brown coloured best that were reserved for their jounin. He wore a bandanna around his head, thus covering his hair and an orange scarf was worn around his neck. The hitai-ate for Iwa was securely stitched to the fabric of his bandanna.

Samui's calm expression hid the fact she was studying her opponent as she was calculating a plan through her mind carefully, merely looking bored to the untrained eye.

_'So uncool, I wanted to see how skilled that Uzumaki kid was if he managed to get here so early and handle the said monster of Kiri's dreaded Demon's Hunting Ground.' _She closed her eyes, pulling her tanto out of its sheath behind her and preparing to make this battle as quick as possible. 'This guy is from Iwa, no doubt his affinity is earth, that gives me the upper advantage in ninjutsu. The same would be for Kenjutsu and possibly taijutsu, he seems more reliant on jutsu only.' She thought, she looked at the hand signs Akatsuchi was preparing and narrowed her eyes, channeling lightning chakra into her tanto making it sharp, causing electricity to pulse through it. 'Now is the time'

Samui pumped chakra into the bottom of her feet allowing her to take off at a much faster pace. A small cloud of dust marked her movement and she reappeared in front of her opponent, tanto held high and swung downwards.

_**"Doton: Gōremu no Jutsu!" **_Suddenly, a thick golem of earth rose up from the battleground, arms crossed as it was ready to defend its creator. Akatsuchi smirked as he watched the tanto of his opponent continue its arc, but his eyes widened when he saw lightning spark from its blade. He quickly jumped back as he saw his golem was now cleaved in two.

"Awww, you broke my golem!" He whined childishly. Samui gave a bored look to her opponent, but her eyes widened slightly as she noticed Akatsuchi raise his hand in a half ram seal.

"But, I'm not done yet. _**Katsu!**__" _The boy cried out. A large explosion rocked the arena and kicked up a large cloud of dust and smoke, bits of scattered earth were also airborne. Samui coughed lightly as she jumped out of the smoke cloud, covered in light burns.

'He planted the explosion tag as soon as he made that golem of his, but he made it so that it would aim to knock me out otherwise the explosion would have been much bigger and the chakra he had pumped into the tag would have been much greater as well. Cool, but not so much that he should underestimate my resilence.' The short haired blonde thought. She gripped her tanto in her jaws before moving through handsigns.

_**'Raiton: Gian!' **_Samui thought before pointing her fingers outwards and a burst of lightning chakra in the form of a blue lightning bolt, tore through the air. Akatsuchi quickly jumped out of the way only to go into a cartwheel and then into a forward roll as he avoided to more blasts of lightning from his opponent. Samui eyed her opponent as she continued to send bolt and after bolt at Akatsuchi, but her eyes widened when she realized something.

_'He's getting closer.'_

"Gotcha." Akatsuchi smiled as his eyes lit up with childish glee. He leaped over another bolt of lightning before coating his arm with earth natured chakra, enhancing his fist's denisty and hardness. As he landed, he scraped his arm against the ground and everyone watched in awe as his arm seemed to attract the earth to his arm as it quickly became encased in the tiled earth of the arena floor.

_**"Doton: Kengan no Jutsu!" **_Akatsuchi lashed out with a strong uppercut, nailing the Kumo kunoichi in her stomach and Samui's eyes widened as she felt the power of the punch explode through her body. The sound of bones crunching met everyone's ears and Akatsuchi gained a grin of victory and as he finished the swing of his arm to send her flying, Akatsuchi was suddenly met with an unhealthy dose of voltage traveling down the length of his arm. Samui exploded into lightning and his earthen arm came crumbling his body froze for a miniscule second as the remaining electrical charge forced his muscles to contract tightly.

That miniscule pause was all it took though as Akatsuchi regained his bearings only to find cold steel pressed against his throat. A single spark of electricity raced along the length of the tanto's blade. The Iwa genin glanced back and chuckled as he found Samui's neutral gaze staring at him.

"When?" He asked.

"During the explosion you made by your golem. I used the smoke, rubble and the crater formed by the explosion to hide myself as I dug underground and created a _**Raiton:**__**Kagebunshin**_**. **After that, it was merely a matter of waiting until my bunshin either took you out, or you performed a close combat move to paralyze yourself and allowed me to use the opening generated by said paralysis." Samui explained. Akatsuchi gave a small nod of respect to his fellow shinobi.

"Proctor, I forfeit." Akatsuchi said. The young member of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist blinked as he caught what Akatsuchi just said.

"Oh, uh hai! Shousha, S-Samui of Kumo!" Chojuro exclaimed as he raised his hand. The Mizukage gave a small clap to the kunoichi.

'She will be an excellent kunoichi during her later years. Nothing like those anorexics I hear they have back in Konoha.' The Godaime Mizukage thought.

"YEAH, WAY TO KICK HIS ASS SAMUI!" Karui yelled.

"Do you have to be so loud, Karui. You might piss some people off...and those people may try to kill us. What if Raikage-sama gets mad at us for getting people to try and kill us? What if that action could lead to war? What if..." The paranoid lollipop sucker was met with a fist to his cranium as Karui told him to shut up. Samui shook her head at her teammates as she and Akatsuchi parted ways.

'So uncool.' She thought.

'Interesting tactic.' Naruto thought. 'Though I must applaud the agility of that Akatsuchi guy. For such a rotund guy, I never expected for him to be so light on his feet and it was rather brilliant to disguise his dodging as a means to gain a closer proximity to his opponent.'

**"Sounds like you're a bit excited." **Kamina commented.

_'Oh...I am.' _Naruto chuckled mentally. He then returned to reality as he watched the board flash through names once more.

Meanwhile, on the other end of the balcony area where the non-fighting competitors were, Kurotsuchi was currently chewing out her teammate.

"You baka, how could you lose?! You should always remember not to underestimate your opponent, because of that you held back on your exploding tag thinking she would not have survived a full scale explosion. If she died, she died and it's not your fault. Geez, Oji-san's gonna be pissed that his future bodyguard is not gonna make chunin." The grandaughter of the Tsuchikage grumbled.

"Gomen, Kurotsuchi-sama."

"And stop with the -sama already. I told you, I've known you since for too long for you to be doing this crap."

"Gomen, Kurotsuchi-sama."

"Stop it." She growled. The larger boy nodded, not verbally responding at all to his violent teammate, only to peek around Kurotsuchi's form and his eyes widened with a light amount of shock before turning to glee.

"Kurotsuchi-san!"

"WHAT?!" She roared, annoyed that he was still talking. Shrinking away from the sudden outburst, the scarf wearing boy merely pointed behind her and her eyes followed his finger's direction. Her dark eyes widened marginally before a smug smirk donned her face. The screen's face showed two names in bright yellow pixels.

**Kurotsuchi vs. Reimei Sora **

"W-Would Kurotsuchi of I-I-Iwa and Reimei Sora of K-Kiri please come down for your match-up!" Chojuro said. The two competitors jumped down to the floor below.

Reimei Sora was a young kunoichi with golden blonde hair, similar to that of the Uzumaki boy she had currently been itching to fight. She had teal coloured eyes and tanned skin. She wore a light gray turtle neck sweater with extremely long sleeves that hid her hands. She wore a pair of long black pants that stopped at her mid-calf and wore a pair of black shinobi sandals. The Kirigakure hitai-ate was wrapped around her neck like a collar.

The two shinobi stood a few metres away from each other, Chojuro standing equidistant between them.

"Are you two ready?" The blue haired boy asked. The two kunoichi nodded as they shifted into battle stances. "KUROTSUCHI VS. REIMEI SORA...HAIJIME!" Chojuro leaped back as the two kunoichi remained standing still, analyzing one another. They then began to shift their feet, circling one another like battling wolves, waiting for the opportunity to strike.

Kurotsuchi stealthily channeled her chakra into her feet, converting its nature into that of earth. She then decided to make the first move after a few minutes of continuous circling. Taking one step forward, Kurotsuchi raised her leg and slammed it down on the ground.

_**"Doton: Iwa Girochin no Jutsu!" **_The chakra channeled through the battlefield before settling beneath Sora's feet. The earth distorted and Sora quickly backflipped out of the way as sharpened earth, like that of a guillotine blade, rose up from beneath her. However, not wanting for her opponent to pull a fast one like what that Samui girl did to Akatsuchi, she scraped her arm along the ground, earth collecting along the length of it as she sped towards her own creation.

With her arm now strengthened by the earth that collected along its length, she roared a battle cry and shattered the earth guillotine technique with surprising strength of her _**Mizu Bunshin**_**, **and sent rubble flying everywhere. Sora's eyes widened as she stood next to her showing that the young blonde girl did intend to pull the same tactic as Samui.

Kurotsuchi lashed out with a vicious kick to the bunshin, however, said clone was sentient and hence had the sense to dodge. Sora then took advantage of the miss and she struck out with her sleeve covered arm. Kurotsuchi raised her stone limb to block the strike, but her eyes widened when she felt no force. Instead she watched as the cloth of the teal eyed Kiri kunoichi seem to bend and twist as if it were alive. Glowing blue with chakra, the sleeve snaked its way around the arm before lashing out strongly and nailing her in the face. The granddaughter of the Tsuchikage felt pain erupt from her lower jaw, but the grip around her stone arm kept her from moving further away and instead, was met with another strike by the dangerous piece of clothing.

Naruto watched from the balcony with interest at this development. 'What is that ability? The only thing close to it is from that guy that Gaara's brother beat who was able to manipulate his bones with chakra.'

**"Well from the memories I've just seen regarding that, I think the principle is basically the same, only it's with respect to the fibers of the clothing. By channeling chakra through the fabric, that Sora girl is able to make those fibers into an elastic material allowing the sleeves to stretch and contract at her command. Plus, I think earth natured chakra is what she has given how hard that Kurotsuchi girl seems to have been hit. Her jaw is bruised." **Kamina commented.

_'Quite an interesting technique.' _The blonde Uzumaki thought as he continued to watch the battle unfold.

Kurotsuchi quickly ducked beneath the third strike, but cursed when she saw movement out of the corner of her eye.

_'The bunshin!' _She realized. She deactivated the chakra flowing through the arm to keep the earth attracted to it and she escaped her binding from the cloth. She then spun on her heel, drawing a kunai while doing so and flung it at the bunshin as said clone was about to strike her with a hammer blow. The clone exploded into water droplets before falling to the ground as a puddle. Kurotsuchi was struck in the spine however, and sent careening through the air as she was struck by chakra filled sleeve of Sora's sweater.

Sora then began lashing out with her sleeves as if they were whips, breaking the sound barrier with each blow. Kurotsuchi jumped and flipped to avoid the strikes before taking out two kunai and flung them at her opponent. Sora crossed her arms over her chest before uncrossing them swiftly and her sleeves extended outwards and knocked the kunai back with a CLANG!

As the sleeves retracted to their original length, Sora quickly went through handsigns and inhaled deeply.

_**"Suiton: Teppōdama!" **_Sora launched numerous water bullets at her foe, but Kurotsuchi slammed her hands on the ground as she finished a string of handsigns.

_**"Doton: Doryūheki no Jutsu!" **_An earth wall about half the user's size climbed upwards and blocked the attack. Kurotsuchi then took off and ran towards her opponent. Water bullets and iron hard, chakra infused sleeves of death aimed to take down the Iwa kunoichi before she could achieve her objective of taking down her opponent, but Kurotsuchi's small and light frame made it difficult to do so. Kurotsuchi then shocked Sora as she latched onto Sora's sleeve, sticking to it with a basic application of chakra to the bottom of her feet. Kurotsuchi ran along the sleeve's length and Sora tried to fire a water bullet at her opponent only for a quick shuriken barrage to stop it.

Sora winced as one of the shuriken sliced her cheek, but more pain followed after as Kurotsuchi reached her target and rotated to land a devastating roundhouse kick to the temple. Sora's eyes widened before she was sent flying through the air and into the wall of the arena. A small crater formed in the wall as Sora made contact with it and she slumped to the ground, unconscious.

"SHOUSHA, KUROTSUCHI OF IWAGAKURE!" Chojuro announced.

Kurotsuchi gave a satisfied smirk before heading back to her place on the balcony.

'Rather basic fight, but this is just the preliminaries. The finals is where people will really show their stuff.' Naruto thought. The board flashed through names once more and stopped.

**Karui vs. Shishi Megumi **

"The next match is Karui of Kumogakure against Shishi Megumi of Kusagakure. Will both fighters please come to the floor!" Chojuro called out. The red haired teammate of Samui and Omoi gave a nod as she walked down the steps.

Megumi was a girl with naturally white hair. She had dark violet eyes and a round shaped face. She was average height and had a figure that was considered normal for girls her age so her chest and waist were still undergoing development. Though compared to the board of a girl that was Karui, they would be considered quite developed by any guy or girl's viewpoint. Megumi wore a skin tight, dark green top with only one sleeve, the other, her left, appearing to have been torn off. Probably by a wild animal in the Demon's Hunting Ground if not deliberately. The Kusa kunoichi had a matching skirt with a pair of black shorts in order to preserve her modesty. She wore black bandages that were wrapped around her legs and stopped at her sandals. Though her most characteristic feature was the lion tattoo on her uncovered left arm, located on her shoulder.

"Hmmm." Megumi gave a hum of disappointment. Karui raised an eyebrow, her golden eyes eying her opponent curiously.

"What?" Karui asked with her natural rude tone.

"I swore you had more of a figure from when I was standing across from you. You're rather flat."

Silence echoed through the arena. Samui shook her head while Omoi looked like he was witnessing the apocalypse.

"Oh...well that was kind of harsh, despite it being the truth." Naruto muttered quietly. The red haired Mizukage gave a giggle at that, hiding her fit of laughter behind her palm, though the shine in her eyes betrayed her want to hide her amusement. Chojuro had no time to announce the start of the match and immediately scrambled away from the battlefield as Karui drew her blade faster than most people could blink.

Megumi gave a cat-like grin as she saw her opponent rush towards her. She slunk low to the ground, on all fours like a lioness about to pounce. And pounce she did for she shot off as the tightened muscles in her legs allowed her to gain enough speed to reach the red haired Kumo ninja's location. Golden eyes widened as Karui was still in mid-swing and she suddenly found her neck being constricted. Megumi's grin widened before she slammed her opponent into the ground with terrific force.

Karui let out a gasp of pain as the ground cracked slightly from the impact. Megumi then dragged Karui along the ground before flinging her skyward. Karui tumbled through the air, but she recovered quickly and sheathed her tanto and formed a few handsigns.

_**"Raiton: Rakurai no Jutsu!" **_Karui let loose a bolt of blue lightning from her fingertips. Megumi quickly backflipped out of the way, moving with grace as she continuously avoided the storm of electricity. Though as soon as Karui touched the ground, the Kusa kunoichi channeled chakra into her feet and sped towards Karui. The red haired kunoichi tracked her white haired adversary and raised her arm, blocking the tiger claw strike to her chest.

_'Such strength!' _Karui thought as she was sent skidding backwards. However, she was suddenly forced to tilt her head in reflex as she found Megumi's fist where her head was previously. _'Not to mention she's fast as fuck!' _Megumi smirked as she saw the panicked look on the Kumo ninja's face.

"Come now, Karui-san. Where's that fire I saw earlier? Are your skills as non-existent as your breasts?!" Karui gritted her teeth in rage at the insult and slashed with her blade, going for the chest with a horizontal slash.

"So you aim for my breasts, Karui-san? If you're jealous of them just say so." Megumi teased her dark skinned adversary once more by raising her impressive bust and letting them drop, her breasts jiggling as she did so.

All the males in the stands were watching with wide eyes in an almost hypnotic trance as they stared at Megumi's well developed chest. Naruto was the only one spared a smack upside the head as the females on other shinobi teams had performed said smacks to their male teammates. However, that didn't mean Naruto was left out of the loop for a kunai whizzed past his face and he looked in shock as it embedded itself into the stone wall. He tracked its flight path and gulped when he saw the Mizukage giving him a sweet smile.

A roar of effort turned his eyes back to the battlefield as he saw Megumi skillfully dodging all of Karui's slashes. The red haired kunoichi went for a vertical slash, following with an upward diagonal slash. She then reversed her slash and went for a downward diagonal before going into a rotation leaving a circle of white around her, noting how fast she had swung her blade. Lightning sparked from it as she charged the tanto with her elemental chakra before sending elecrically charged slashes at her opponent.

Karui brought upwards in a vertical slash and Megumi watched in awe as a strand of her hair was cut off, the blade of Karui's tanto having lengthened slightly when she tilted her head to the side to avoid the blade when it came into close proximity with her head. Karui then went in for a punch, but Megumi blocked it before directing her opponent downwards and slamming her knee into the darker girl's stomach, knocking the wind out her lungs. She then punched Karui in the face and followed with a palm strike to the trachea to silence her scream of pain. A straight kick to the chest sent the Kumo kunoichi flying, but Karui had managed to right herself in midair and skidded backwards on her feet before taking off at high speeds.

Megumi drew a kunai from her weapons pouch and threw it as she tracked her opponent, but orange sparks and the kunai falling marked its deflection. Megumi's eyes widened as she felt movement to her left and jumped back, but she gave a cry of pain as Karui's tore a rather long line along Megumi's stomach. Blood pooled slowly from the wound, it wasn't deep, but it hurt like hell especially with the lightning running through it. She stumbled forward as another slash formed on her back, this one was diagonal and stretched from her left shoulder blade to her right hip. She was then kicked in the back and sent tumbling to the floor.

Karui smirked as she landed on the ground, her crimson stained tanto shining from the electric current that flowed through it.

"How's that for a flat chested girl, bitch!" Karui said with a smug look on her face. Megumi grunted as she clutched her bleeding wound and glared at Karui. She had to quickly go on the evasive as she dodged the numerous slashes from her opponent. Using every single acrobatic trick in the book, Megumi avoided the attacks from all sides and went into a backhand spring when Karui aimed a circle slash at her. Karui had then went with the momentum and lashed out with a kick only for Megumi to duck under it, but Karui went into an unexpected handstand and went forward as she slammed her foot down on Megumi's skull sending her to the ground before bringing down the other foot. She then kicked Megumi in the face before leaping with a lightning charged blade as her opponent now lay face up.

"DIE!" She cried out, however her golden eyes widened when she felt a great deal of force impact with her stomach.

"KARUI!" The normally quiet Samui yelled out to her teammate along with Omoi. Naruto watched in awe as he saw what Megumi just did. The girl, while seemingly helpless on the ground pulled off a recovery taijutsu marvel that he believed on Lee and Gai could pull off. The Kusa kunoichi had channeled chakra into her damaged stomach muscles so as to strengthen them and dull the pain from the slash wound so as to rapidly pull herself into a sort of sit-up position, but the momentum had carried her much further and she used it to twist around, bending her arm and using it as a balance as she allowed the twisting movement to carry her legs upward and was now in a crouch before leaning backwards to spin and position her body so that she was able to push herself into a handstand and her legs bent before being shot upwards, both her feet crashing into Karui's stomach.

Her tanto flew through the air as it was freed from her grip and clattered on the ground just as Karui shot up into the air. Megumi leaped after her opponent and performed a great amount of uppercuts as they went even higher above the small arena's floor. The Kusa ninja then grabbed her opponent and twisted her around so that her back was now facing her and the two suddenly became parallel to one another as they hovered for a short moment. Megumi then smirked as she began her finishing combo. Her left leg lashed out in a brutal kick and nailed Karui in the ribs, the bones creaking from the force and using that force, she reversed her rotation so as to spin and get above her opponent and land a deadly punch to the face. The two neared the ground quickly and Megumi spun around and her leg straightened as she and Karui were now only a few inches above the ground.

"No way...that's..." Naruto's blue eyes widened.

_**"SHISHI RENDAN!" **_Megumi roared as she brought her leg down with devastating force. A mouthful of blood escaped her lips as the internal damage was caused from the finishing kick. Karui's eyes widened from the pain and shock of being slammed into the floor from the powerful taijutsu combo before they rolled up into her head and she fell unconscious. Megumi grinned toothily as she rose to her feet as wiped the sweat from her brow, but then released a small cough and flecks of blood fell into her palms.

_'Kuso. Her slashes affected me worse than I thought.' _The girl with the lion-tattoo thought.

"SHOUSHA...SHISHI MEGUMI OF KUSAGAKURE!" Chojuro exclaimed. As the medical team for the exams came onto the arena floor to pur the unconscious Karui onto a stretcher, one of the medical shinobi quickly performed a quick healing jutsu on the Kusa kunoichi and her slash wounds healed within a minute.

"Arigatou, medic-san." The Kiri medical shinobi nodded his head before helping his fellow medic in taking Karui off the field. Megumi then began to walk up the stairs to the balcony area. She then went towards her team when she was heading past Naruto.

"Oi, Shishi-san!" Naruto called out. The white haired girl raised an eyebrow at the blonde jinchuriki.

"Hmm?" She grunted in response.

"That taijutsu combo, the Shishi Rendan...where did you learn that?" Naruto asked. _'It can't be...how does she know the teme's move?!' _He thought to himself. Megumi's violet eyes narrowed at him before responding.

"Why?"

"The move was very powerful and I saw it before in the last Chunin exams in Konoha. Though, the shinobi who performed it was from Konoha as well so..."

"You wish to know if I copied it or something? Well let me tell you something Mr. Konoha shinobi." She flicked his Konoha hitai-ate and the small ding from the impact made him wince. "The shinobi of the Shishi clan are required to learn the taijutsu form native to it. The Shishi Rendan is one of the most commonly used attacks so it is very basic, but if one is not proficient in it, it can be very draining on the user's body due to the high amount of strain from having the body move at high speeds to gain the momentum to use the moves. Whatever shinobi used that move is not from the Shishi clan and is probably using a bastardized version or was looking for a cool name to label whatever attack they were using."

Megumi then turned around, her hair waving wildly as she stomped away from Naruto.

_'Curse that Sharingan. Sasuke must have copied it from a Shishi clan member then from during the time in the Forest of Death and I was angry that I thought he came up with that all by himself!' _Naruto growled in his mind.

**Omoi vs. Taku **

"OMOI OF KUMO VS. TAKU OF SUNA!" Chojuro announced. "BOTH COMPETITORS PREPARE YOURSELVES!" The two shinobi in question answered the call and walked towards the damaged arena floor.

Taku was a young boy of overage height. He had messy brown hair and wore his Suna hiati-ate around his forehead. His eyes were a cyan colour and he wore a dark brown pair of pants, a pair of black sandals and a loose tan shirt that was built mainly to protect from Suna's harsh environment of extreme desert heat. The white headdress was worn atop his head and covered up his hair leaving only a few strands visible. A large scroll was attached to his back.

_'Kuso...why am I fighting already? I don't want to fight so soon, but if I don't Samui will have my head. But what is she decides to punish me and instead report me to Bee-sensei? Or worse, what is she reports me directly to Raikage-sama for not performing well in the exams? What if I lost my shinobi license? What if...' _He was too wrapped up in his worrying thoughts that the white haired boy hadn't even heard Chojuro say the match could begin. Only instinct was able to save his body from being hit as the Suna shinobi unfurled his scroll and a puppet burst forth in a plume of smoke and sent flying at the dark skinned boy.

The white haired Kumo genin leaped backwards and shook his head as he finally cleared his head.

"Huh? Oi, he didn't say we could start yet!" Omoi said with a frown. Everyone in the stands sweatdropped along with Taku.

"Actually...he did." Omoi blinked at Taku in confusion.

"Really?" A nod of confirmation was his reply.

"Great now that I was spacing out Samui-san is mad at me. And if she's mad at me then that means she's going to call me uncool and if she calls me uncool I may not be able to become a chunin. What of coolness is a requirement for chunin? What if I don't even make it to chunin? What if Raikage-sama and Bee-sensei try to beat me for not doing well?" The sweatdrops grew bigger on everyone's heads as they watched the boy roll comically on the ground and began to have a mental breakdown.

Samui pinched the bridge of her nose and muttered to herself, "Omoi, panicking is so not cool."

Taku merely stared, his eye twitching at how odd his opponent was. "Oi, is he going to be okay? Because if he isn't then should you call the match due to him having mental issues?"

"Ummm...the winner is only decided when I call it and I can only call it if the opponent surrenders, dies or is incapacitated and Omoi-san is...I really don't know what to call that as." Chojuro answered as he watched Omoi had suddenly began muttering in the corner of the arena, a dark cloud of shame hanging over his head.

"Well if that's the case..." Taku manipulated the chakra strings attached to his puppet and sent it towards the cornered Omoi who was still muttering to himself.

"And if what I die? What if I'm not remembered in Kumo because I died such an ungrateful death? What if...huh?" Omoi turned and his eyes widened as he ducked under the swipe of the puppet's claws. Omoi cursed as he realized the corner didn't provide much movement and as a result he was hit directly in the side by the puppet's strong arm.

Omoi was sent careening through the air and skidded along the ground before rolling as he came to a stop. He gritted his teeth in pain, slowly rising and clutching his wounded side. However, despite all that...the lollipop remained in his mouth. Omoi then leaped back as the puppet flew towards him, Taku skillfully manipulating it as if it were child's play.

Taku's puppet was a rather large and bulky one, made of the same chakra conductive metal and wood fusion found in most puppets. However, due to its large size it was more of a defense/offense puppet built for close combat unlike the puppet Karasu that Kankuro had which was built for ensnaring, poisoning and agile maneuvering. However, that didn't mean that Taku's puppet had a few hidden traps of its own. With a simple tug of his finger, Taku had his puppet rear back its fist and shoot it forth for a devastating right hook, but as it swung its arm, Omoi had raised his blade and though he knew the puppet was tough, he did expect to hear the CLANG that resounded through the air.

His dark eyes widened as he noticed the puppet's fist, a trio of large black spikes protruding from the knuckle joints of the puppet.

"Like it? My puppet, Heracles, is crafted for close combat and those spiked fists are just one of its many weapons. Let me show you another." Taku smirked before tugging a few chakra strings and Omoi ducked to avoid the second arm's fist before leaping over its body as its leg lashed out. A crack formed in the ground as Omoi glanced downwards and his eyes widened in awe as he saw the black coating that formed around the puppet's leg.

"Heracles can also produce armour from its legs and arms to heighten defensive capabilities as well as offensive due to the density of the armour making the blows very heavy." Taku explained before Heracles released a clacking sound and flew after Omoi. Omoi flashed through handsigns and struck outwards with his blade.

_**"Kumo-Ryū: Ikazuchi no Kiba!" **_Omoi stabbed his blade forward and a stream of lightning chakra shot forth, but Heracles raised its left arm and suddenly the arm opened outwards like a blossoming flower forming a shield of some sort that was supported by a few wooden supports. The arm then released an aura of chakra that took on the shape of a round shield that blocked the attack. Omoi landed on the ground and took off towards Taku and formed a few handsigns before releasing a blast of lightning from his fingertips.

_**"Raiton: Rakurai no Jutsu!" **_The blast of lightning was avoided, but Omoi still kept running after his opponent. Heracles crashed down from above in front of Omoi, but Omoi slashed with his tanto as it landed and clang resounded once more as the small sword clashed with Heracles's knuckle spikes. Heracles was then controlled to strike with its armoured leg which Omoi jumped over to avoid, but he was sent flying despite his block as Heracles's armoured left arm struck the flat of his tanto. Omoi flipped through the air and landed against the balcony near Samui.

"Ohayo, Samui-san. What do you think so far?"

"That puppet is rather cool, now go before you get disqualified if they think you're seeking advice from me." Omoi nodded and pushed off the railing and senta bolt of lightning at Taku only for Heracles's chakra shield to block it. Omoi then coated his tanto with lightning chakra once more and caused his blade to resonate rapidly due to the large amounts of electrical charge flowing through it. He stabbed it downwards as he landed on the ground and a flash of blue erupted from the point of contact before a stream of blue lightning carved a length line in the ground as it headed towards Taku and Heracles.

_**"Raiton: Kaminari Senkō no Jutsu!" **_Taku's eyes widened as he saw the large amount of lightning being sent towards him and his puppet and channeled a large amount of chakra to his puppet's chakra shield and it grew larger. A large flash and bang followed after the impact and everyone had to rub their eyes to get the spots out of their vision. Taku blinked rapidly, his vision blurred, but he suddenly saw the blurry image of Omoi in front of him.

_**"Kumo-Ryū: Uragiri!" **_Taku flinched as he saw Omoi spin, his tanto poised to strike, but his eyes gained a confused look as he noticed no visible damage on him. There was no slash wound, no cut, no blood...nothing. That is...until he heard a loud clacking sound. Taku's blurred vision regained a bit of clarity and he saw the chakra strings that were attached to Heracles had been severed and Omoi now stood with a tanto pointed at his throat.

The lollipop sucker gave a small smirk. "I think that was cool. What do you think Samui-san?!" He called out to his busty teammate. The large breasted girl gave a nod of approval. Taku stared at the sword, his vision now completely returned to normal.

"I'm out of chakra and I'm weak without Heracles. I yield." The Suna nin said with his head bowed low.

"SHOUSHA, OMOI OF KUMOGAKURE!" Chojuro announced. Taku returned Heracles to its sealing scroll before both he and Omoi returned to their spots on the balcony.

_'That's strange. That __**Kaminari Senkō no Jutsu **__seemed more like an offensive move yet there was barely any form of destruction that would come from a raiton jutsu of that magnitude.' _Naruto's eyes then widened in realization, 'Unless...'

**"The jutsu was not designed for offense." **Kurama spoke to his host. **"A split second before it touched the chakra shield from that puppet, the chakra had actually accumulated at the front of the lightning stream and once it made contact, the chakra burst forth like water from a popped water balloon. The lightning was released as more of a bright flash rather than a destructive blast and thus had the effect of blinding the enemy." **

_'How are able to see all that?'_

**"I see what you see, annoying flesh bag. I just chose to take note of the useful things rather than just the battle alone unlike you." **

**"Though Kurama is a bit conceited in this aspect, the kitsune is right, Naruto. Though you learn from battles, if one if able to watch another's skills it would be beneficial to take note of how certain skills work. If you can deduce what goes on within a jutsu from merely glancing at the techniques being done it would aid your progress." **Kamina said. Naruto frowned at the Raiju's words.

_'Sure, tell the boy who DOESN'T have a Sharingan to learn and copy other people's stuff.' _However, as he watched the screen flash through names once more.

**Kaguya Shinji vs. Aki **

_'Kaguya...why does that name sound familiar?' _Naruto closed his eyes in thought, his face looking like a fox's as he did so. The gears were turning in his head as he crunched memories trying to recall where he heard that name. Suddenly, the image of the final obstacle that blocked him from Sasuke a few months ago popped up in his head, the one Lee had fought.

_'The bone guy! His name was Kaguya too, then that means this Shinji guy and he are related.' _Naruto's eyes widened as he remembered how powerful Kimimaro had been. Even augmented by the Kyuubi's chakra and using the _**Tajuu Kagebunshin no Jutsu**_, he was completely and utterly destroyed by the alleged surviving member of the Kaguya clan.

"KAGUYA SHINJI OF KIRIGAKURE VS. AKI OF SUNAGAKURE!" Chojuro called out as the two came down to the field.

With Kimimaro having died during the Sasuke Retrieval mission, Shinji was now truly the final member of the Kaguya clan. He was boy with average height and build and had dark gray hair similar to Kimimaro's along with red eyes. He wore a loose fitting set of clothes which consisted of a dark gray male kimono and a black hakama. A black obi was wrapped around his waist and the cloth was thick enough that the Kiri hitai-ate was able to be stitched onto the obi where one would find the buckle of a belt.

The Mizukage watched the boy with an interesting gaze. Being one of the kekkai genkai purge survivors herself during the era of the Yondaime Mizukage's reign she had been aware of the existence of every single other kekkai genkai user's identity since they had to rely on each other to survive the purges. Mei, upon becoming the Godaime, had taken it upon herself to provide compensation to the kekkai genkai users that survived the purges. Young Shinji's parents had been able to take of their son for quite a while before they had died due to the disease of the Kaguya clan, however upon recent research, Mei had her medics run tests on Shinji so as to come up with ways to slow down the disease when he got older and lengthen his life span, however it was revealed that Shinji had contracted a special condition that sent his white blood count through the roof and thus granted him with a high powered immune system. Ultimately, it was revealed that Shinji had been cured of his condition and thus was now famous throughout Kiri as the one who survived the fate of the Kaguya clan. It was unknown however if his condition would be hereditary though.

_'The now sole survivor of the Kaguya clan and the one who cheated the fate of his clan, Kaguya Shinji-kun. Show these shinobi how powerful Kirigakure is.' _The Yoton user thought with a smile.

Aki of Suna was a rather normal looking girl. She was about five feet in terms of height and had a rather decent build. She had dark brown hair that fell just below her neck and had deep green eyes. She wore a pair of black shinobi sandals and had on a dark brown shirt with matching pants with her Suna hitai-ate wrapped around her left bicep. A katana was attached to her back.

_'Hmmm, a kenjutsu user from Suna. Those aren't very common.' _Naruto mused.

The two competitors faced each other, Aki had a determined look on her face while Shinji seemed to be bored and was currently picking his ear before observing his pinky for whatever he had mined and flicked away the piece of earwax.

"HAIJIME!" Chojuro shouted as he brought his hand down in a chopping motion. The match began and as soon as it started, Aki shot forth. She drew her katana and Naruto watched with mild surprise as he caught the thin line of chakra that extended from the blade, its humming reaching his ears' enhanced sense of hearing.

_'She's a wind natured shinobi. Though I guess that should be common seeing as she is from Kaze no Kuni.' _Naruto thought. Releasing a cry, Aki brought her katana down in a swift motion, but despite the augmented cutting power of the wind chakra enforced katana, her eyes could only widen in surprise when she saw Shinji raise his bare arm, the sleeve of his kimono shirt falling away. Sparks flew forth from the contact Aki made with his arm and she could only stare in awe as she saw only the fine trail of blood that came from her breaking the skin, but when she hit bone...it was like trying to cut through steel.

Shinji watched her with a bored look on his face and now she realized he had good reason to do so. Unwilling to yield, Aki leaped back before slashing wildly at her opponent, but Shinji didn't even move from his spot as he merely raised his arm accordingly and blocked every single strike from the Suna kunoichi. Aki raised her blade and with a chakra enforced arm swing, knocked aside his arm and opened his guard and stabbed towards his neck. However, she froze as she felt pain in her abdomen and looked down to find a sword of bone impaling her through the stomach.

"Nani? When...?"

"While you were busy focusing on my arm, I drew this blade of bone out of my femur. The femur is known as the hardest bone in the body, as hard if not harder than the skull even though the skull is made of numerous amounts of fused bone. When you made your opening, you risked making yourself open as well and like you...I took advantage of the opening." Shinji spoke with an emotionless tone before retracting his blade from her stomach and blood pooled around her stomach.

"She'll die in the next thirty minutes from blood loss if she does not get medical attention. I'd suggest you do so." Shinji said to the Mizukage. Mei gave a nod to the young boy before calling over the medic-nin to take the bleeding girl to the infirmary for a blood transfusion.

"SHOUSHA...KAGUYA SHINJI OF KIRIGAKURE!"

_'Well...that was disappointingly quick.' _Naruto thought.

**"Drawing out a battle is not really the greatest course of action during this part of the Chunin Exams. I'm sure everyone who has fought thus far has been holding back so as to let it all out when they reach the finals." **Kamina spoke.

**"Accursed kekkai genkai users. When you fight that one, you will slaughter him, Naruto. Understood?" **

_'Don't tell me what to do, Kyuubi.' _Naruto told his inner bijuu_. 'But I can't really afford to hold back should I fight this guy...he seems really strong. Plus he can make his bones as hard as steel, strong enough to withstand the cutting force of wind natured chakra.'_

**Kato vs. Kurono**

The next fight was a rather boring match between a member of the Kusa team and the Suna team. Kato of Kusa versus Kurono from Suna.

Kato was a silver haired boy with black eyes and lean build. He wore a black shirt, black pants and blue shinobi sandals. His Kusa hiati-ate was worn around his forehead and had bandages wrapped around his forearms. Kato was revealed to have been a rather basic shinobi using the necessities of a shinobi and showed surprising skill in utilizing the Kawarimi as a means to only gain the ability to get behind his opponent.

Kurono of Suna was a boy with dirty blonde coloured hair and had brown eyes. He wore a red shirt with black shorts and wore a pair of black shinobi sandals. His Suna hiati-ate was worn around his neck like a collar. The Suna shinobi revealed to be a very good chakra sensor and so was able to counteract all of Kato's attempts to get behind him. A swift taijutsu match ensued which ended in Kurono using a swift combination of taijutsu to break through his opponent's guard, kicking him in the chest to leave him wide open before launching a _**Fūton: Daitoppa **_to the body and knocked his opponent out.

"SHOUSHA...KURONO OF SUNAGAKURE!"

**Urashima Keito vs. Biwako Shin **

"URASHIMA KEITO OF KIRIGAKURE VS. BIWAKO SHIN OF KUSAGAKURE!" Chojuro announced. "BOTH COMPETITORS REPORT TO THE FLOOR!"

Keito was a boy who had build similar to that of Rock Lee. Lean muscles that was slightly bulked due to the intense training. The boy was dressed in a tight dark blue shirt and had loose black pants with a pair of flat shoes similar to what kung-fu users wore. Keito had long black hair tied into a ponytail, brown eyes and the confident smirk on his face showed he was probably very cocky.

Biwako Shin was a young boy with dark green eyes and red hair. He had pale skin and was of rather average height and build characteristic of that of a fourteen year old boy. He was dressed in a sleeveless black shirt exposing his arms and wore a pair of black gloves. He wore dark blue shinobi sandals and a pair of white shorts and had bandages wrapped around the length of his legs and forearms.

"HAIJIME!" The Seven Swordsman member leape away from the battle as soon as it began. Shin raised his arms and suddenly his body flooded with chakra and everyone watched in significant curiosity and awe as the boy's skinny frame suddenly bulked, his muscles becoming more developed and powerful.

"This is my ability. The Biwako clan in Kusagakure is known for having the ability to channel the chakra in our bodies to augment our strength to higher levels than that of any other shinobi. We use it to increase muscle growth and this make our bodies stronger and tougher. The result is what you see."

"Interesting." Keito spoke as he shifted into a fighting stance. "Because of that I will assume you are a taijutsu user."

"Not particularly, but it is my most proficient field of combat." He then took off in a burst of speed leaving a small crack in the ground from the force he took off with. He was suddenly in Keito's face, arm raised high. "LET ME SHOW YOU!" The fist was brought down with devstating force and a crater and dust cloud formed from the force of the impact.

"What monstrous power!" Chojuro commented.

"Kusa certainly has a decent set of shinobi this year." Ao said.

"I concur." Mei nodded. "Though, I have read Urashima Keito's file. Though this Biwako Shin seems to be a powerful character, our own is not exactly one to be fought with in the field of taijutsu."

"Why not, Mizukage-sama?" The shark toothed boy asked. Mei gave the young boy a sweet smile.

"You'll see soon, Chojuro-kun." The red haired kage spoke with a confident tone of voice. "Do not doubt the strength of your village's people."

The smoke cloud cleared and Shin was smirking with confidence as if he had already won the match, but his eyes widened when he saw his opponent standing below him in a very stable stance, arms raised in an X-shape above his head and was easily holding his own against the force of Shin's punch.

"Nani?"

"Seriously dude, what kind of punch was that? You broke the ground, but didn't even hurt me." This caused Shin's eyes to twitch before he drew back his arm and let loose another punch. Keito twisted her body at the hips and dodged the body to the side.

"Come on man, don't lag on me. I feel like you're moving slow motion." He then ducked and weaved under the straight kick aimed for his head before catching the leg that Shin used for his spin kick. Keito smirked before pulling on his opponent's leg so that he lost his balance and landed on the ground hard. He then swung Shin around and threw him into the wall of the arena and a small crater formed from the impact. Shin pulled himself from the imprint of his body in the wall before glaring at his opponent.

"Come at me you chakra steroid using sissy!" Keito teased the boy. Channeling more chakra into his muscles, Shin's body grew even larger in size and he took off with unbelievable speed and the Kusa genin let loose a string of blows that Keito merely dodged with little to no effort. He ducked, weaved, twisted and jumped to avoid every single strike aimed to incapacitate him, now aimed to crush him with devastating force.

"You know, original steroids are said to shrink your penis. Does chakra do the same to you or do you not have a penis? I wouldn't want to know, but seeing as you're using your chakra like it was water I'd say the latter option would be correct." Keito laughed as he obviousy struck a nerve with his cocky attitude.

Naruto's eyes twitched at the distrubing comments Keito made. Despite its fabulously effective ability to make Shin go into a bestial rage and abandon all sort of mental power, Naruto could only think if he was glad he lived in Konoha where he knew there was no male that was obsessed about commenting on the length of one's genatalia.

Somewhere in Konoha's underground, Danzo sat in his ROOT base overviewing a mission report from one of his top agents. Said agent sneezed violently before wiping his nose.

"Sai, are you catching a cold?" The old war hawk asked.

"No, Danzo-sama. Though I have read in books that when someone sneezes it probably means someone is talking about me." Danzo remained silent as he continued to review the mission report.

Shin roared as he went for a spin kick to the ribs, but Keito's eyes hardened as he used chakra to anchor himself and caught the leg with surprising strength. He then pushed down on the boy's knee join so that it was now locked before raising his elbow above Shin's leg.

"No...no please, don't." Shin pleaded. Keito smirked.

"This is what you get for thinking muscle equals strength." Keito said as he brought down the elbow on Shin's knee with devastating force and everyone winced as they heard a loud crack and snap echo from below them. Shin clutched his now broken leg, a few tears streaming from his eyes from the pain.

"AHHH FUCK!" The Kusa ninja cursed only to find his body being hoisted off the ground.

"Now if you want to see true taijutsu in action, let me show what years of practice and hardened training are capable of." Keito growled before tossing his opponent high into the air. As the Kusa nin was airborne, Keito slipped into a strong horse stance. Chakra flowed through his body in a strong yet calm manner.

_'What's he doing?' _Naruto asked. 'I can feel the chakra going through his body, but I can't tell what he's doing with it. There's no glow to show it's empowering him and there's no muscle growth like that Shin guy to show it's being used as a developer.'

**"Look a little deeper kit. The chakra is increasing his power, but just not in the way you are familiar with. The chakra going through his system is being pulled from one of the eight chakra gates. Even from before the fight, the boy was constantly using the first gate of chakra, the Kaimon, so that means he is always in a constant state of empowerment. It's as if he was trained in the art of opening the first gate so that it was instinctual. He's now pulling from the second gate, the Kyūmon." **

_'So he's like Bushy Brows in that he can open the gates?! He's that strong?!'_

**"So it appears, kit. You'd better keep an eye on this one." **Kurama advised his jinchuriki. Naruto nodded as he watched Shin now fall from the height he was at and suddenly, Keito's eyes snapped open. The flow of chakra he was drawing from the first and second gates that was previously being repressed was now unleashed and the chakra washed over the entire floor.

_'Such amazing chakra.' _Chojuro thought.

_'What is this kid?' _Ao thought, his visible eye widening in shock.

_**"Urashima-Ryū: Tekken!" **_With a roar, Keito unleashed a single punch at Shin's falling form as soon as it was level with him. Shin gasped in shock as he felt his body cave in on itself and his large muscle-bound body was sent soaring through the air, spiraling as if he was hit with a Rasengan before crashing into the wall with enough force to become embedded three feet deep within it.

"He knocked him out...with a single punch." Chojuro gasped in awe.

"Actually...it was ten." Mei spoke as the eye that wasn't covered by her hair, narrowed. "One to the sternum, one to each pectoral muscle, six to the abdominal area and one to each leg. The Kusa genin would be completely unconscious and incapacitated."

"Well you can say that the gaki is gonna be on a date with unconsciousness for a while." Ao spoke. Mei turned to her personal bodyguard with a sweet smile on her face. The only words that stuck with her during the man's sentence were _'you...gonna be on a date.'_

"Ao...shut up...or I'll kill you." Ao's visible eyes widened with shock before he sighed.

"What the hell do I do that she always tells me this?" He grumbled. Chojuro then left his village leader's side to return to the centre of the rather ruined battlefield that was for the preliminary Chunin Exam fights. After the medics managed to wrench Shin from his place in the wall, they took him out of the arena room to the infirmary to heal. Once they left, the wielder of Hiramekarei spoke.

**Uzumaki Naruto vs. Azuma Shirotsuchi**

"ATTENTION ALL COMPETITORS! THIS...IS THE LAST FIGHT FOR THE ENTIRE PRELIMINARY ROUNDS!" Chojuro spoke. "SO AS WILL LAST TWO FIGHTERS COME DOWN TO THE FLOOR. UZUMAKI NARUTO OF KONOHAGAKURE VERSUS AZUMA SHIROTSUCHI!"

Naruto jumped down from the top of the balcony to the floor below just as Shirotsuchi did the same.

"So we finally get to see the tamer of Gojira in action." Keito said with a smirk before turning to his teammate and fellow Kiri-nin. "What do you think, Shinji?"

Shinji didn't respond, his red eyes still fixated on the blonde Konoha shinobi. 'Show me your power, Uzumaki Naruto. Show me the power used to tame the Kaiju of Kiri.'

"Oi, Samui-san. That Naruto guy is going to fight now."

"Cool." The blonde spoke her most commonly spoken word.

Shishi Megumi of Kusa, the kunoichi who defeated Karui, watched with interest at the blonde. "So, you've been said to have gone through the Demon's Hunting by yourself using only a pair of Henged bunshins to pass for teammates. A sneaky little teme you are, but let's see if your battle skills are as good as your lies." The lion tattooed girl's violet eyes stared unblinkingly as she scratched her lion tattoo.

_'My pets want a piece of you in the finals, Uzumaki. Don't lose.'_

"You better not lose you blonde haired punk. I want to be the one to kick your ass in the finals."

"Umm, Kurotsuchi-chan, don't you think you should be rooting for Shirotsuchi. He is our teammate." Kurotsuchi turned to Akatsuchi with a glare.

"No. I want to fight Uzumaki not Shirotsuchi and I want to kick his ass hard for nearly stealing the box from me when we were in the Demon's Hunting Ground." The granddaughter of the Tsuchikage growled. The scarf wearing genin frowned at his teammate.

_'She's really violent these days. Maybe it's that time of month for her.' _He thought.

Meanwhile, on the battlefield Naruto was observing his opponent's features. Shirotsuchi was a muscular boy with black hair and tanned skin. He wore a dark blue, long sleeved shirt with blue pants that stopped at his ankles and wore dark blue shinobi sandals. The Iwa hitai-ate was wrapped around his forehead, but the most noticeable feature of his physical appearance was that while one of his eyes held a black iris, the other one was a dark green.

Though Naruto was quite entranced by the difference in eye colours, his curious look became changed as he began watching his opponent with a quizzical look on his face. Shirotsuchi seemed to be watching him with a rather murderous look on his face, even more murderous than what most people gave him.

"Oi, why are you looking at me like that?"

"He may not be alive, but you're the closest thing to it. You look like him and you're from Konoha. The Kiiroi Senko killed my Tou-chan in the war and I would never forgive him for what he did. My who family fell apart because of what the Yondaime Hokage did to Iwa and I will have my revenge."

"Sooo...you're taking out revenge on a dead guy...on a guy who likes the dead guy, but isn't all for the sake of revenge?" Naruto asked. Shirotsuchi nodded.

"You're a baka." He deadpanned causing everyone in the place to facefault and/or sweatdrop at the blonde's bluntness. "Look, I may look like the Yondaime..." _'I am his son after all and I do have his blood in my veins.' _"But I am not him. I am my own person. Now shut up so I can kick the shit out of your sorry Iwa ass."

Shirotsuchi growled as he turned to Chojuro. The blue haired boy watched both of the fighters before nodding and jumped back with a cry of "HAIJIME!"

Shirotsuchi and Naruto rushed each other. Shirotsuchi struck first, aiming a right hook to the blonde's whiskered face, but Naruto redirected it and immediately went into the kata for one of the two fighting style he knew, Hiryuuken. He lashed out with a strong right fist to the stomach, but Shirotsuchi dodged the blow and spun to aim a roundhouse kick to the ribs which was countered with Naruto raising his left leg and then redirected the blow so as to strike out with his own kick. The Iwa genin was sent skidding backwards as the kick struck him in the chest.

Shirotsuchi growled before drawing a kunai and Naruto did the same since he merely wanted to test his opponent. The two clashed with another as small storms of orange sparks exploded from the point of contact between both kunai. However, Shirotsuchi saw an opening and kicked Naruto in the wrist, sending his kunai flying directly vertical through the air. Taking advtange of the disarmed blonde, Shirotsuchi nailed a strong elbow to the stomach and Naruto was sent skidding backwards before the Iwagakure nin struck against the son of the Yondaime with a earth encased fist.

_**"Doton: Kengan no Jutsu!" **_Shirotsuchi scraped his arm agains the ground and performed the basic earth style jutsu, attracting earth to his arm with chakra and encasing it with said earth. A powerful uppercut struck Naruto in the stomach and sent him tumbling through the air before he crashed harshly against the wall of the arena. However, a hissing sound met Shirotsuchi's ears and his eyes widened as he saw the sizzling exploding tag attached to his earthen arm.

"SHIT!" A boom resounded through the air and Naruto smirked as he pulled himself free from his place in the wall. He watched the smoke cloud clear to reveal his opponent was covered in soot and smoke with a small burn on the sleeve of his shirt.

"Teme." Shirotsuchi growled.

Naruto didn't speak as his face returned to its original stoic form and then shot forth in a burst of speed and jumped slightly, raising his arm upwards so that his elbow was facing his opponent's face. Shirotsuchi raised his arm to block it, but the elbow struck downwards with terrific force and caused the arm to waver. Naruto struck forth with the same elbow strike and this time it broke through the feeble defense before Naruto spun on is heels and crashed his elbow into his opponent's stomach. He then pivoted his arm and the back of his fist slammed into the Iwa nin's face. Shirotsuchi stumbled backwards and flashed through handsigns and slammed them on the ground.

_**"Doton: Doryūdan no Jutsu!" **_A large earthen dragon roared as it burst forth from the ground and opened its jaws to engulf Naruto. Being of earth natured chakra, Naruto knew lightning would do the trick so he drew upon the powers of his Raiju arc as he drew the sword on his back. Lightning coursed through the blade and his rotated his blade, a small twister of lightning forming as the trails of electrical charge were left behind the spinning tanto. Naruto then stopped his spinning and stabbed the blade forth, nailing the dragon between the eyes.

_**"Uzumaki-ryu: Kaminari Shougekiha!" **_A pulse of lightning erupted from the centre of the small lightning twister and travelled along the length of Naruto's sword and into the lightning dragon causing the chakra to become neutralized and causing it to crumble to the ground. However, Naruto's eyes widened when he saw his opponent was now in his face and when he tried to move, his feet were anchored to the ground. Looking down, he found two cylinders of stone where his feet were.

Naruto then sheathed his sword as he held his hands in a ram sign. Shirotsuchi went in to punch Naruto, but his eyes widened as he punched Naruto and was met with a flash of blue in his face.

_**"Bunshin Daibakuha!" **_Naruto cried out before the clone in front of Shirotsuchi exploded violently. The Iwa genin was sent flying through the air out of the smoke cloud that had formed before arcing through the air and landing in a heap on the ground. Everyone watched in awe as there was a rather large crater in the ground where Naruto's kagebunshin had exploded. Shirotsuchi groaned as he lay, burned and battered on the ground.

"SHOUSHA...UZUMAKI NARUTO!" Chojuro yelled before he and everyone else began to look around for the blonde Konoha shinobi. "Uzumaki-san, are you here?" Chojuro asked, his voice echoing around the room. Everyone began look around before the Mizukage released a giggle of amusement.

"Naruto-kun, you really are an entertainer aren't you? Still using kagebunshins to do your entire fight for you it seems, so...would you mind coming off my ceiling?" Everyone's eyes widened to see Naruto had been sitting in a mediatative position on the ceiling, upside-down and eyes closed. His sapphire orbs snapped open, a cold look in them before stood to his feet and dropped down to the ground and flipped to land on his feet, landing in a crouch.

"Not that I am doubting your abilities, Mizukage-sama...but when and how?"

"Ever since the beginning of these preliminaries. You really think I didn't know the one that entered the room with your so-called teammates was also a kagebunshin. I didn't dispel that one because it would have been fun to see how this would played out. Your original self was the kunai being used in the beginning of the fight and as soon as you went flying upwards...no one ever wondered why the kunai never came back down." Mei chuckled. Truth be told, a few of them had wondered about the kunai not succumbing to gravity, but they were too wrapped up in the fight below to follow up on it. I was a kunai after all and no one really cared about it.

"As I suspected, you are interesting one Naruto-kun." The Lava using Mizukage said. She then turned to look at the people on the balcony. "Will all the winners of today's matches please come down to meet me here. Medics, take Shirotsuchi-kun to the infirmary and all of those who have lost their battles, please leave the premises and wait in the lobby room of the building."

Once the room had been evacuated, the only people remaining were the winners of the matches, the Mizukage, Chojuro, Ao and a few of the Kirigakure jounin that remained as further protection for the Mizukage.

"Now then, all of you have done surprisingly well to make it this far into the exams and have shown tremendous skill in taking down your opponents with the swiftness and efficiency that all shinobi should be capable of doing. Due to these being the preliminaries and merely a constant environement, it is understanable for you all to show off a little as well as hold back in your skills. However, one month from now, the finals will be commencing and so you will all then prepare for them within that time limit. The kage of the shinobi who have made it thus far, along with a few of daimyo, will be invited to this final act of the Chunin Exams and so it is required that you all hold nothing back and fight with all you have. Now I shall hand you all over to my personal bodyguard, Ao, to explain the matching for the finals."

The ANBU and Kirigakure Intelligence Head nodded as he stepped forward. "Arigatou, Mizukage-sama. Now then, gakI's...all of you here are going to the finals so the matches will obviously be in a tournament style. One-on-one battles, the winner moves on to fight once more while the loser is immediately disqualified from participating any further within the exams. This is an iron-clad rule so if any of you all wish to break it, well...consider yourselves killed for not following the laws of Kirigakure no Sato. Your match-ups will be selected based on random selection, so there is no biasness in who will be fighting whom." Ao then took out a few pieces of square cut paper and handed each one to the genin before him.

"Channel a bit of chakra into those pieces of paper and they will change into a random color. The ones with matching colors will be the ones to fight each other." The genin nodded and did as they were told and looked at the results of the chakra paper as they changed from white to a different color.

Samui-Red

Omoi-Blue

Megumi-Green

Kurotsuchi-Blue

Keito-Red

Shinji-Yellow

Kurono-Yellow

Naruto-Green

"Now that you all have your respective colours, the appropriate match up sheet has been made, so here it is." Ao said as one of the jounin next to him handed him a sheet of paper. He turned it to show the genin and they learned it to the letter. The match-up had been divided into two sections with two colors being in each section, or blocks.

Samui vs. Urashima Keito (Red Block)

Kaguya Shinji vs. Kurono (Yellow Block)

Shishi Megumi vs. Uzumaki Naruto (Green Block)

Kurotsuchi vs. Omoi (Blue Block)

"Now the map has been divided into two sections. In the first section, you will have the members of the Red Block and Yellow Block fighting their respective opponents. The winners of these respective block fights will then fight each other and the winner of those semi-final battles will move onto the finals of the tournament. The same principle applies to the Green Block and Blue Block. The winners of the Green and Blue Blocks will fight each other and then the winner of that semi-final battle will move on to fight the winner from the Red and Yellow Blocks' semi-final match. Are we clear?" Ao asked.

"Hai!" Was the unanimous answer.

"Excellent. Now get out of here you annoying gakis, you have one month of preparation ahead of you and we need to organize the invitations for the kages and daimyo!" The one-eyed ANBU bodyguard of the Mizukage barked. The genin all filed out of the building and each of them had their own respective thoughts.

_'So I fight the one who is a taijutsu master it seems. Cool.' _Samui thought.

_'I will crush all in my path and hopefully I will see you in the finals..Uzumaki Naruto.'_

_'So my first fight is with the one who was able to tame the Kaiju of Kirigakure's deadly Training Ground 666, went through the entrie exams with only a pair of kagebunshins and his own wits at his side and is apparently a pretty strong Konoha shinobi in his own right. This might be fun.' _Megumi thought as she glanced at Naruto. Naruto had no thoughts on the matches other than that he knew he was not holding back.

_'Kamina...I need to work on a few of the Raiju Arc moves. Got time to spare?'_

**"I have nowhere to go and nothing to do. I'll whip you into shape." **Naruto grinned mentally at the Raiju.

_'Great. Oi, Kyuubi want to help me wipe the floor with that Kaguya guy? He seems pretty strong.'_

**"Wasting my power on such a human would be an insult to me. Though, take as much power as you need, the more you take, the weaker the seal gets." **

There was a period of silence before Naruto shrugged, _'I'll take it as a yes.' _The Nine Tails growled at the nonchalance of his jinchuriki before going to sleep.

_'Okay, all I gotta do is beat this Omoi kid and I can get to kick the crap out of Uzumaki if he wins his fight. If he doesn't then I'll take my anger at not being able to fight the dumb blonde out on that white haired Kusa bitch.' _Either way seemed a win-win to Kurotsuchi in her eyes.

_'...but what if a war starts in the middle of the Chunin Exams when another nation betrays the trust of the other? That happened in Konoha when Suna and Oto teamed up on them six months. Wait, what if Konoha and Suna, being allies again, turned on Kiri and then Kumo and they started the Fourth Ninja World War when Konoha decides to team up and attack Kiri and Iwa?'_

Omoi was the epitome of calmness it would seem.

The shinobi finalists then left the area without a word, being escorted to the front of the building that lay in the centre of the Demon's Hunting Ground. A number of Kiri ANBU came out of the mist and shadows.

"We are here to escort you lot back to the village to prepare for your training one month from now. Follow us." The ANBU turned and let the genin follow behind them, however they all paused when they saw Naruto looking down at the murky waters of Training Ground 666.

"Uzumaki Naruto-san, is something wrong?" The ANBU asked. Naruto stood back up and put two fingers in his mouth before releasing a high pitched whistle that echoed through the air.

"No, everything's fine." Naruto spoke as the water in front of him burst upwards in a large tower. A loud roar echoed through the air as Gojira emerged from the water and then growled in a friendly manner as it bowed down to Naruto. The Kiri ANBU were in shock at seeing their beast appear from the water. They were fresh batch sent to replace the ones from earlier and take over their shifts, and though they had heard of Uzumaki Naruto of Konoha taming the Kaiju of Kiri, it was an unbelievable thought and now that they were all witnessing it for themselves, they were very likely to have pissed themselves.

"Come on, Gojira...Ero-Sennin's probably waiting for me." Naruto hopped atop the large fire breathing reptile's head and Gojira released a growl of compliance before swimming swiftly through the waters. Meanwhile, everyone could only gape in shock at what they just saw, even the masked ANBU and the stoic Shinji were in shock. One thought then ran through their head as they watched Gojira continue to follow the waters of the Demon's Hunting Ground.

_'What the fuck?!'_

**Author's Note: Alright guys, here you go. That's it for this chapter, I hope you enjoyed the fight scenes and though I did them, I assure you that XxheavendragonxX will do a really good job with these finals. The reason why I skipped Kurono's fight was because well I was getting kinda tired making these OCs to make up for the lack of competitors. Megumi was fun to do and I came up with the idea for it when I remembered Karin had had a flashback of Sasuke saving her from a giant bear using Shishi Rendan. Then I thought, what if he copied Shishi Rendan as well along the way. Everyone hates the Sharingan for a reason. **

**Now it's time for XxheavendragonxX to do his two chapters. The Finals he said, he was planning to make it into a two part thing. So the finals will be two chapters long. Now remember to review, review, review guys. It give me and my fellow dragon more motivation to write. Positive criticism is accepted.**

**AND THIS FROM THE BOTH OF US, WE WISH YOU A HAPPY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!**

**Translations:**

**Doton: Doton: Gōremu no Jutsu- Earth Release: Earth Golem Technique**

**Raiton: Gian- Lightning Release: False Darkness**

**Doton: Kengan no Jutsu- Earth Release: Fist Rock Technique**

**Raiton: Kagebunshin- Lightning Release: Shadow Clone**

**Doton: Iwa Girochin- Earth Release: Stone Guillotine**

**Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu-Water Clone Technique**

**Suiton: Teppōdama- Water Release: Gunshot**

**Doton: Doryūheki no Jutsu- Earth Release: Earth Wall Technique**

**Raiton: Rakurai no Jutsu- Lightning Release: Thunderbolt Technique**

**Shishi Rendan- Lion's Barrage**

**Kumo-Ryū: Ikazuchi no Kiba- Cloud Style: Fangs of Lightning**

**Raiton: Kaminari Senkō- Lightning Release: Lightning Flash**

**Kumo-Ryū: Uragiri- Cloud Style: Reverse Beheading**

**Tajuu Kagebunshin no Jutsu- Multi-Shadow Clone Technique**

**Fūton: Daitoppa- Wind Release: Great Breakthrough**

**Kaimon- Gate of Opening**

**Kyūmon- Gate of Healing**

**Urashima-Ryū: Tekken- Urashima Style: Iron Fist**

**Doton: Doryūdan no Jutsu- Earth Release: Earth Dragon Bullet Technique**

**Uzumaki-Ryū: Kaminari Shougekiha- Uzumaki Style: Lightning Shockwave**

**Bunshin Daibakuha-Clone Great Explosion**


	6. Chapter 6

**Alright people the is XxdivinedragonxX, otherwise Tenryuu or D.D. here to give you a new chapter of Cry of Raiju. I will be doing this chapter and the next one which will both hold the finals. Expect the fights to be mainly on Naruto and his opponents, but do not fret we will see how some of the smaller canon characters fights end. **

**Firstly I want to Say that the pairing I haven't decided yet, me and Kitsune planned to have Fu, but I was thinking Mei of course, possibly Hinata with Fu as a Sister to Naruto. Though I haven't deeply took though into it, but Kitsune and I have this chapter and the next two chapters to decide what we want to do of course. After this chapter we will be only two to four chapters away from being in canon in shippuden which will be pretty sweet cause nothing will be exactly the same in canon (like some fics of course), but will hold most of the aspects in the canon series.**

**Anyway let's bring this chapter up!**

**Chapter 6: Finals Part 1**

The seats which house the tournament finals were filled, packed with shinobi from across the nation and the civilians of Kirigakure. Sitting at the center of it all was the Mizukage herself, Ao standing next to her as her protective guard along with the two squads of Kiri's Anbu that were hidden in the shadows and surrounding mists. Beside her was the Raikage, A, and his two personal guards Darui and C, the other seat empty. Soon footsteps came up and both the Mizukage and Raikage to look to find Tsunade coming up the stairs, beside her were her two Jonin guards, Raido and Genma.

Mei smiled as she waved her hand to Tsunade seat and looked at her fellow female Kage.

"It is an honor to finally meet your acquaintance Tsunade-dono, welcome to the Chunin exams." She said gracefully as she closed he eyes.

Tsunade sat upon her seat and looked looked at Mei.

"It's a pleasure to meet your acquaintance as well, Mizukage-dono." She looked over to see the Raikage, "You as well A-dono."

The Raikage merely grunted in acknowledgement, his two guards C and Darui sweat dropping a bit. Tsunade then glanced around and raised an eyebrow.

"Umm, Mizukage-dono...I heard there was a girl from Iwa taking part, the Tsuchikage's own granddaughter at that...so where is he?" Tsunade asked. Mei giggled at the blonde before answering.

"Oh, Tsuchikage-dono was said to have back problems and so he had to stay in his village." Tsunade and A sweatdropped at that. Onoki was old, in fact he was the Nidaime Tsuchikage and he had yet to choose a successor, so it was understandable his spinal troubles would be painful to such a degree he couldn't leave Iwagakure.

A looked onward as the proctor had walked to the center of the stage below. "Seems like the matches will begin." He looked over to the other Kage and smirked, "I hope your shinobi are up to the challenge of facing Kumo's top student. Samui is a talented young girl."

"I am not surprised at all, she showed quite the talent in the preliminaries. Though do not think that there are opponents who won't give her a hard time." Mei said with a smile. "Two of Kiri's finest are in this exam, as well some of the other villages as well. Especially the one from Konoha."

Tsunade looked over to the auburn haired woman curiously, "Yes, what went on? I was informed that the team we had sent did not make the first part of the exam."

"Oh that is because Jiraiya-san came here with his disciple." Mei looked at Tsunade "He was rather amazing, his skill is not known since all he did was use a Kagebunshin during that fight."

'Kage bunshin, but no genin knows that except-' A vein slightly popped on her head, twitching along with her left eye as her annoyance was now known to the world. Mei and A looked at each other with questionable looks before glancing back at the mentally raging Senju matriarch. 'Don't tell me that gaki's here. Damn it Jiraiya!' She regained her composure as she smiled softly.

"Excuse me, but is Jiraiya here right now?" The Senju asked the Mizukage, but as if on queue a puff of smoke appeared in front of them and the toad hermit had appeared in his oh-so-elegant poses.

"Did somebody call the great toad sage, the gall-" and before he could even finish his sentence, the female Hokage punched him directly in the face, sending him backward flying across the ring. "DUMBAAAAAASS!" She roared jumping down from the ring, leaving two kage and their body guards sweat dropping at the sight.

'Looks like her right arm's still as deadly strong as it always was back when we arm wrestled a few years ago.' A mentally chuckled as he remembered he nearly lost to the busty blonde Godaime.

It was after a few minutes of Jiraiya regrouping from his agonizing pain and Tsunade holding the urge in hopes of damaging his face even further that things cooled down. "Now Baka, you better tell me right now why the hell Naruto is in the exams. I figured you would tell me if something like this would occur, but it seems that your thick skull can't get some sense of thought into it."

"You wound me Tsunade, you don't trust in my own judgments on whether or not I feel like my own apprentice is qualified in becoming a Chunin or not?" He smirked, "Absurd, I think I know when the time is right and I saw this as said time. This was a good enough time as it is anyway, he needs some more experience facing a variety of shinobi." He told her.

Tsunade narrowed her eyes before closing them and sighed. He did have a point about that and it had been a year since they had left. She had hoped the pervert had taught the blonde something useful. Being here might have been a good reason. "Alright then moron, tell me honestly...how is his training so far? t must mean that he has progressed to be in the finals."

"I would say he has vastly improved his skills, as the Mizukage mentioned, he beat his opponent in the preliminaries with just a simple clone. He can hold his clones out longer and doesn't need to use hand signs to summon a dozen unless he is going to the range beyond that." Jiraiya said.

"Mind telling me how many?" She asked.

"Four thousand is his max at the moment, when using about a third of his chakra." He stated, surprising the two kage next to Tsunade, "...though ever since he learned the secret of kage bunshin he rarely uses it that much unless he is attempting to overwhelm the enemy. He's more relying on his own fighting skills with little to no help from clones now and plus I managed to capitalize on that sneaky little prankster brain of his and turned it into a strategic brain. Though if you're wondering how his taijutsu is faring, I would guess he has three, maybe four different styles. Aside from learning the frog katas and improving his own mixed fighting style, he learned two different styles."

Tsunade smirked. She always knew Naruto had such large reserves, but those reserves were still higher than most people his own age and not simply because of his Uzumaki lineage, but the Kyuubi as well. "You taught him two other styles, I thought taijutsu wasn't your expertise compared to ninjutsu and fuuinjutsu?"

"I'm good at taijutsu, maybe not as a good as you, but I know my skills can match up to Orochimaru in hand to hand combat." Jiraiya smirked, "Though I didn't teach him. I'll give you details upon that later with some…other news." He said softly.

Tsunade frowned as she looked at Jiraiya, a shiver running up her spine warned her of an impending doom for her, but she shrugged it off thinking it was a simple chill. Whatever Jiraiya had to say though, it must be something of great importance to be something as serious as this. The look in his eyes that she can see was as if he was reminiscing moments, but what, she would never know. Though she saw his eyes shift back to normal before he spoke, the white haired Sannin member giving her a confident grin.

"Though I know he has this in the bag. I estimate he is at least Tokubetsu Jonin right now with his own skills. He varies off from the main three and fuuinjutsu and kenjutsu. The only skill he lacks at is genjutsu. Aside from dispelling or sensing genjutsu, he has no existing skills in that field." He said. "Not to mention having three affinities, he has become quite a powerhouse."

Tsunade widened her eyes at Jiraiya. Was he just being overconfident or truly being serious? Had Naruto reached that level in such a sort time. Having three affinities? His skills being up past even some of class members from the academy? She was then immediately snapped out of her thoughts regarding the skills of Konoha's jinchuriki as she had heard the proctor call out the contenders of the finals. She looked around and gazed down at the contestants, none of which she could find Naruto.

"Jiraiya, where is Naruto?" she asked.

"Hm, what do you mean?" He questioned looking down as he gazed at the group and pointed down upon the character in the black and teal vest with a hood over his head. The Uzumaki symbol was emblazoned upon the back of the vest and a ninjato was lazily being twirled in his hands, bandages covering said hands and slightly up his forearms. He wore a pair of black pants that ended just above his ankles and wore a pair of black sandals, the Konoha hitati-ate still wrapped firmly around his forehead.

"He's right there, he just changed into different clothes since he was training with tremendous effort this past month. You'll be surprised with the number of tricks he has up his sleeve."

Tsunade had simply stared at the Naruto she was now looking at in surprise. For starters, he was taller and the aura he gave out was more mature. Second, the ninjato she noticed earlier, it must have either meant he had experience with it or it was just for showing off. Lastly…he wasn't wearing orange! It was like a sign from Kami that the horrid orange that he had worn was no more and could not blind and disgrace his fellow shinobi for wearing such a disgraceful set of clothing! She smiled slightly and focused only on Naruto.

'Show me what you got, gaki.'

XxXxX

Naruto's eyes appeared from the shadows of his hood as he looked at the proctor with a gaze as if the man in front of him wasn't there. Thoughts ran deep into his mind, planning strategies through which opponents he would possibly face during different outcomes. It was a strategy that he would have had to thank Shikamaru for giving him the idea. The guy was a lazy ass, but was possibly the greatest strategist out of everyone in his class, which gave Naruto the idea to let a clone to read a book of advanced strategic warfare and guerrilla tactics while he got ahead on his skills on fuuinjutsu and increase his use of jutsu and hand to hand combat.

'Seems like this tournament will be easier to pass through, at least Neji isn't in this one.' He thought. 'What do you guys think about my opponent that I have to face?'

**"I feel as though you may have the advantage for this battle, you've improved vastly during the month of training, aside from that you have a few more tricks up your sleeve which I believe will drag the fight into your favour."** Kamina looked upon his student,** "Even with the strategies you have, I still believe that this is in your favor...however, I would advise you not to get cocky just because I said this. Your opponent is strong on her own accord, as your future opponents. I would advise caution with your three opponents, especially if you face that Kaguya, he was very fast and aimed with quick precision when he used his attack in his preliminary match. He must be high chunin level if his skill is that vast at his age."**

Naruto grunted 'Anything you have to say Kyuubi?'

**"Nothing I can really say gaki. What can I say that the Raiju already said? All I can say is win as my vessel otherwise I will be giving you a damn headache for weeks. You have your little surprise unless one of them tries to pull a big surprise on you, so you can just pull out your surprise."** Kurama said.** "Now if I wanted anything else to say, I would tell you to quit chatting with us and pay attention to your surroundings, Your name was fucking called you idiotic hairless monkey!"**

Naruto flinched upward as he was now staring upon the proctor whom was narrowing his eyes staring at Naruto, "Boy, are you done day dreaming or do I need to skip to the next match?" He asked sternly.

Naruto narrowed his eyes as he shook his head.

"No need for that, I am ready." Naruto said as he walked towards the proctor, his opponent across from him. He gazed upon the kunoichi with a focused gaze of sapphire eyes and slowly lowered his head. He took off his hood: his blonde hair was slightly longer, though was slightly wilder on one side, the spikes more profound, and his whiskers were more in depth and slightly bolder.

"Alright. THE FIRST MATCH WILL BE UZUMAKI NARUTO OF KONOHA VERSUS SHISHI MEGUMI OF KUSA!" There was a brief pause as the proctor raised his hand.

"HAIJIME!" The proctor said as he brought down his arm, immediately disappearing out of the ring with vast speed. Naruto whipped his kunai out, his eyes never leaving his adversary. "So you said you are from a clan called the Shishi right?" The girl's ears perked up at the question, but she decided to humor her opponent and nodded. "I wanted to apologize about my friend." He said softly.

"Your friend?" The white haired girl tilted her head in confusion.

"Yeah." His eyes slightly furrowed, "A friend of mine, about over a year ago had copied one of your family members taijutsu combos, the one called Shishi Rendan, that you had used."

Megumi's eyes narrowed slightly as she clenched her fist, her knuckles popping loudly, "Ah...yes I remember you mentioned this beforehand. Well then, given the time frame of your team mate's heinous act of copying my clan's attack it is then safe to deduce that it was my brother that he copied…" Her fist slowly unclenched, though her eyes sharpened, becoming slit like and showing great ferocity. "Then I'll just have to amend for my brother's shame with a victory as clan head." She said pulling out a set of tiger claws that she gripped firmly between her fingers.

'She's a lot like Kiba: animal-like, brash, comes from a clan raised based by animals, and is a future matriarch. I'm feeling a huge vibe of irony here.' He threw his kunai in the center of the field and pulled out three shuriken.

'Plan one is set into motion.'

The moment that Naruto threw his kunai the battle had begun, the female shinobi had come with a frontal assault. Naruto had thrown the shuriken making multiple hand signs.

**"Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"** Out of the shadows, the throwing weapons multiplied into larger, more vast numbers, from three came three hundred. All spinning rapidly as they headed towards the female.

Megumi smirked channeling chakra into her claws, enough that they extend up to five inches in length. She launched her claws toward the kunai and smirked when she saw the kunai explode into a cloud of smoke, signifying it was a Kage Bunshin in disguise.

'And plan one has failed.' Naruto frowned as he channeled wind chakra into his hand and quickly released it into an outward motion. The force in which repelled the chakra based attack to where it had dissipated from sight. Said force had pushed Megumi back, sending her off her feet as she was in the air and hit the wall behind her. Giving a low grunt of pain she immediately jumped to her feet, chakra coming to her finger tips and reforming into claws once more.

"What was that jutsu you used, it felt like I was pushed by an invisible force." She said with contempt, attempting to intimidate the blonde, but with no avail as he gave a smirk. It had irritated her enough in which her eyes sharpened, her pupils seeming to transform into vertical slits.

"It was a creation of my own, with a little help of course. It's a wind based attack which uses the pressure of the air current to make a wall of wind to repel attacks, be it weapons, hand to hand combat, or ninjutsu. I based it onto two forms, one for defense and other for offense: that was the defense form I called **Fuuton: Fuujinheki.**" Naruto then quickly flashed through three more hand signs, ending on 'rat' before clapping his hands together.

"Now let me show you the offensive version.** Fuuton: Fuujin Seiken!**" A powerful bullet of compressed wind shot forth from Naruto's outstretched palms. Megumi's eyes widened before countering with a trio of wind chakra blades to fight off the wind blast. The collision of wind ninjutsu caused a large dust cloud to form, but another blast of wind from Naruto scattered the dust cloud and his narrowed when he saw Megumi was no longer standing where she previously was.

Naruto glanced around, sniffing the area to try and pick up her scent. His eyes shifted to the right as he did so and he ducked beneath her kick as she reappeared to strike him. She sailed over his head and skidded along the ground, kicking up dirt as she used friction to stop herself. However, she didn't give Naruto time to react and channeled chakra into her feet to increase her speed and bring herself back to the blonde's location. She began to continue with her taijutsu strikes. She lashed with her tiger claws in combination with her punches, things Naruto made sure to avoid with haste. He ducked underneath a right hook and countered with an uppercut, but Megumi leaned back to avoid it before spinning and knocking away the arm and then went with the momentum to lash out with another kick that broke down Naruto's guard as he aimed to use his other arm to block it.

Now open to her, Megumi stabbed forth with her tiger claws and impaled Naruto through the chest. Naruto's eyes widened as blood came forth. Megumi smirked, but then growled in frustration as the Naruto before her vanished in a plume of smoke. The ground beneath her then cracked and her eyes widened as a fist burst forth and nailed her in the chin.

**"Isn't that the same tactic you pulled on the Hyuga, gaki?"** Kurama said with a deadpan voice.

'Sometimes, it's good to keep a few here and there classics.' Naruto thought back to his bijuu. As Naruto landed on the ground, he grabbed the airborne Megumi by her ankles and swung her down into the ground before lifting her up again and bringing her down for another slam. Having chakra as a muscle enhancement did have its perks.

With a third and final slam, Megumi released a silent scream of pain as her back burned with white hot pain. However, she was a kunoichi and not to mention she was the future matriarch of her clan. She couldn't lose her. She spun and freed her legs from Naruto's grip and then went into a handstand from her momentum and continued to spin on her hands. A twister of kicks slammed into Naruto's body before she went into a forward roll and used the momentum to crash a chakra infused upward kick to his chin.

Naruto's jaws met with a loud CLACK and he soared upwards. The Shishi clan heir then smirked as she got into position. She leaped after her airborne opponent and hovered beneath his body before poking the small of his back, his eyes widening when he realized where he was.

'Oh fuck.'

A powerful kick slammed into his ribs before Megumi reversed the rotation of her body using the force of her kick to spin and slam an elbow into his face. She twisted again and followed with a punch and then again with an elbow, all of which hit Naruto pretty damn hard. She then used gravity to aid with her final spin and crashed her heel down into Naruto's stomach.

**"SHISHI RENDAN!"**

The heel drop caused Naruto to cough up some blood from the internal damage. Naruto gritted his teeth in pain before chuckling and vanishing in a plume of smoke.

'Another clone, kuso!'

She was knocked out of her thoughts when she saw a kunai land on the ground near her, a burning explosive note attached to its handle.

"KATSU!"

The boom echoed throughout the stadium and many of the viewers wondered if the white haired Kusa girl was dead. However, they spotted a length of smoke extending out of the cloud. The smoke melted away to show Megumi panting, covered in minor burns, but otherwise unharmed as she had used Naruto's own principle behind the Fuujinheki to push herself away from kunai before it went off and managed to avoid a fatal strike. As she landed on the ground, she found the blonde jinchuriki watching her with a glare.

"You stole my move to get away from that kunai." He snarled.

"We're ninja, we're not expected to fight fair and plus I didn't steal your move. I merely used the pushing principle behind it to get as far away from it as I could get in those few short seconds." She retorted.

Naruto then sent a flurry of shuriken her way, but she countered with her own star-shaped weaponry. The shuriken all clashed and scattered throughout the area, but the two shinobi didn't let up as they neared each other. Naruto drew his tanto and Megumi readied her claws. Both weapons, laced with wind chakra, impacted with one another in an epic CLANG that resounded through the air.

Naruto blocked the slash from Megumi before spinning and going low, aiming to sever a tendon in her leg, but she quickly jumped over it, flipping overhead to land behind him and then aimed to slash him once more. Naruto quickly leaned back, but a small lock of hair was cut off showing how close he was to being struck by the wind blades. He then kicked her extended wrist to allow him to move away from her before leaping away and then slashing downwards.

**"Uzumaki-ryu: Kazegiri!"** The arc of wind carved a thin line in the ground, but Megumi crossed her arms in front of her face before slashing her tiger claws harshly. Six blades of intersecting chakra filled air currents formed a grid-like pattern that tore through Naruto's own wind attack and continued towards him. The blonde leaped over his opponent's strike and aimed a downward stab at her. His tanto impaled the ground as she stepped out of the attack's path, but Naruto quickly went with his momentum and channeled the momentum to carve the earth and bring his blade up for an upward slash. The white haired kunoichi leaned back as she heard the soft humming of wind chakra around blade.

She and Naruto then began a heavy clash of blades, parrying, dodging, striking and flipping over any attack they made against each other. The viewers in the stands watched with amazement as the Kusa kunoichi and Konoha shinobi fought, sparks flying with every clash they made. Finally, Naruto made a downward slash with his tanto and Megumi was forced to raise her tiger claws in an X-shaped manner to catch the blade and prevent it from carving her in half. Orange sparks flew forth due to the friction and Megumi's arms were shaking as Naruto continued to pour on the force of his blade.

Megumi gritted her teeth and her eyes widened when she began to her a buzzing sound.

'Buzzing? Wind chakra has a light hum, lightning chakra has buzzing, but why is my wind chakra not cutting through it then?!' Though the laws of elemental affinities dictated that lightning is weaker than wind, it depended on how one utilized the chakra that would result in wind overpowering lightning. While most people coated weapons in lightning for an electrocuting edge to their attacks, Naruto found a way to overcome this hurdle when it came to a clash against wind chakra.

While Naruto focused one half of his attention on keeping his wind chakra coating the blade, he had the other half focus on applying lightning elemental chakra to the internal structure of his tanto. This high level of electrical charge would result in the molecules of his blade beginning to resonate at a higher frequency and thus allow it to 'phase through' his opponent's weapon's molecular structure as if it were a vibrating serrated blade.

Naruto grinned as he tore through Megumi's tiger claws and then continued onwards with his attack and slashed her. However, his eyes widened when he saw Megumi suddenly vanish into smoke, revealing a log.

'Kawarimi!' His eyes widened even further when the familiar hissing sound of a burning explosive note met his ears. The explosion went off as his mouth opened to release a curse.

Megumi watched from her perch on the wall of the stadium and her eyes narrowed at the burning cloud of smoke.

'Hmmm...he fought well, but I expected a much longer fight from the one who tamed the Kaiju of Kiri.' She thought. Her eyes narrowed however when she saw a burst of blue chakra appear from the smoke cloud, scattering it and revealing Naruto standing with burns on his body. His body healed the best it could with a light application of Kurama's chakra, but he kept a few burns on his body to prevent his status of being a jinchuriki from being public knowledge.

'Bad enough I got in here illegally, by myself and without permission from Baa-chan, but if they find out I'm a jinchuriki they might actually kill me.' Naruto thought. 'Though...these burns hurt like a bitch. Kyuubi, at least dull the pain for me!'

**"Whiny gaki. You sound just your mother."**

'I don't know whether to take that as a compliment or an insult.'

**"I'd go with the latter."** Kamina stated.

Naruto then returned to observing his surroundings and looked around for his opponent. An application of chakra to the nasal cavity here, a sniff there and voila...Naruto picked up on Megumi's scent. He turned to see her violet eyes boring into him so he returned the stare in kind. He drew his tanto once more and channeled his lightning element into it before spinning the blade rapidly, electrical charge bleeding off of it to create a blue ring. He then stabbed the blade forward with enough force to release a pulse of lightning from it.

**"Uzumaki-ryu: Shougekiha!"** The lightning bolt zeroed in on Megumi's position, but the white haired Shishi heir avoided it in a burst of speed and sped along the ground, leaving a trail of dust behind her. The image of her rushing towards him with a look that could kill had Naruto slightly flashback to an image of when Sasuke had first used the Chidori against Gaara. The image was made just more similar when he saw chakra visibly build up around Megumi's arms. The chakra morphed and twisted into the image of twin lion heads, roaring and snarling as she reared them back.

Naruto stepped back and avoided the first punch from the lion-like fist and ducked beneath the second. He quickly formed a clone to aid in deflecting the attacks, parrying each arm while also trying to counter with their own attacks. However, the flurry of fast paced moves was getting overwhelming for the two Narutos and the original was struck in the chin with a kick.

**"NEMEAN CESTUS!"**

**"BUNSHIN DAIBAKUHA!"**

The lion-like fists impacted with devastating force and a massive explosion that sounded like the roar of a lion followed a powerful shockwave of chakra exploded outwards and a giant lion head avatar carried the damaged blonde across the battlefield and into the wall of the stadium. However, as Naruto was struck, his clone performed the kamikaze attack and wrapped its arms around the assaulting female and allowed its chakra to explode and send her into the opposite wall.

Both combatants groaned in pain as they fell from their respective wall imprints.

'Kuso...I underestimate her taijutsu skills. I didn't know she would have come in with a kick if she was going to use those lion fists of hers to try and hit me.'

**"Well, at least you got her with a exploding clone, right? That should kill her if not knock her out"** Kamina said to cheer up his student. Naruto winced as he rose to his feet, slowly.

'One half of my chakra may be a lot, but over the length of this fight I've been using up a lot of it with all the chakra infused moves I've been pulling off. I lost near one quarter of it during that weapon skirmish before and plus elemental chakra seems to drain me a bit more so in the end it wasn't enough chakra to kill her...let alone knock her unconscious.'

His statement was indeed true as Megumi rose to her feet. Her snow colored hair was unruly and her body was covered with cuts and burns. Naruto then saw her reach into her weapons pouch and pull out two small red pills.

'Oh crap, she has a soldier pill.'

**"Well you have me, kit. I don't really think you should be worried."** The nine tailed fox stated. Naruto watched as his opponent gain a boost in adrenalin and chakra.

"ENOUGH PLAYING AROUND!" Megumi yelled as she bit her thumb.

'She bit her thumb? Oh crap, she bit her thumb!' Naruto exclaimed in his mind. He quickly did the same and flashed through hand signs. Megumi swiped a line of blood along the lion tattoo located on her right shoulder and slammed her hand down on the ground. Naruto's arms suddenly became coated with sealing arrays before he slammed his palm down on the ground as well, doing the same action simultaneously with Megumi.

**"KUCHIYOSE NO JUTSU!"**

Giant plumes of smoke formed as a result of the summonings. On Megumi's side, the smoke cleared to reveal her standing atop a gigantic golden lion. Its eyes were a fierce green colour and its mane and the fur at the end of its tail was a darker gold than the rest of its body. Its teeth and claws were shining white and it wore black armour on its forelimbs, back and hind limbs. Spikes protruded from the limb armour. The lion's size was comparable to that of Gamahiro.

"Shishio-sama, I have summoned you to aid me in fight against an adversary who is proving quite difficult to put down. Please aid me."

"Megumi, you are the heir to the Shishi clan so I will aid you in battle, however it will depend on who I will be fighting. Let me see the whelp that dares to try and take down a member of Kusa's greatest taijutsu masters." Shishio the Lion Boss snarled.

On Naruto's side, Naruto was pretty nervous as he watched the smoke from the summoning start to clear.

'Come on, come on. Please let it work. Did it work?' He asked himself. His question was answered when he heard the roar of his summon. Its muscular body coated with dark green scales, silver spines lined its back and piercing golden eyes glowed within its sockets. The tail of the beast cracked the earth and sharp claws and teeth were ready to tear flesh from bone. 'YATTA!'

Gojira roared once more, breathing a column of emerald flame as it made its presence known to everyone. The Kaiju of Kirigakure now lay beneath Naruto's own feet and the blonde stood proudly atop the towering beast. The Kaiju was quite a few feet taller than Shishio in comparison and the lion boss could only stare in awe at his opponent's visage.

Everyone up in the stadium froze with either shock, awe, horror or a mixture of all three. Tsunade's mouth gaped with A's; Jiraiya and the Mizukage's body guards were completely slack jawed as they witness the summon of the legendary creature of the mist.

"THAT'S WHAT HE WAS WORKING ON?!"

"YOU KNEW ABOUT THIS?!"

"WELL YEAH...and no."

"Tsunade, what have you been giving your shinobi?" A asked with a look of disbelief on his face.

"HOW THE HELL SHOULD I KNOW?! ASK THIS GUY!" She exclaimed pointing at the Gama Sennin. A, Tsunade, Mei and all the bodyguards looked at Jiraya who was just as slack jawed as everyone else.

"He said he wanted help with creating fuuinjutsu formulas for summoning and reverse summoning. I helped the gaki out and when I asked why, he said it was a 'secret'" Jiraya said making air quote gestures with his fingers. Tsunade's eyes bored into him with a disbelieving look. "I THOUGHT HE WANTED TO HAVE THE TOADS HELP HIM...NOT THE GIANT FUCKING FIRE BREATHING REPTILE FROM THE DEMON'S HUNTING GROUND!" He yelled, pointing at Gojira.

The Mizukage's eyes just widened briefly before smiling, giving off a hungry vide and staring down upon the blonde with lust. 'Seems I caught some eye candy.' She thought as she licked her lips.

Naruto froze as he felt a chill run down his spine and shuddered before shaking it off and getting his confidence back into gear. He was going to end this fight with the power of a Kaiju.

"GIVE UP MEGUMI! GOJIRA IS ONE MONSTER YOU DON'T WANT TO MESS WITH!" Gojira backed up his summoner's statement with a roar and breathed a stream of green flames once more at the feet of Shishio, causing the lion to step back a bit.

"LIKE HELL I'M GONNA GIVE UP! AND NEITHER WILL SHISHIO-SAMA!" The golden lion nodded in agreement before charging at Gojira. His razor sharp claws lengthened by a few inches and he slashed at Gojira's body, but the Kaiju's scales were quite durable and sparks flew from the friction between claws and scales. Gojira took the opportunity to lash out with a tail strike and knocked Shishio to the side before using his clawed hands to slash at Shishio, however Shishio's armour did well to protect him, but a thin grey line showed that Gojira's claws were capable of scratching the armour.

A blast of green fire followed afterwards, but Shishio jumped out of the way and tackled the Kaiju, sending it stumbling backwards. Powerful slashes with his claws sent Gojira into the defensive as the reptilian beast's scales, despite being near impenetrable, could only take so much damage. Hence why Naruto's barrage of Odama Rasengans in Training Ground 666 had managed to wound it.

The golden eyed reptile roared and punched Shishio in the face, but Shishio countered and slashed at Gojira throat and preventing it from screaming out in pain as it had its throat temporarily constricted as its flesh was grazed, finally managing to get through to the flesh beneath. Shishio then turned and lashed out with a mule kick and hit Gojira in the stomach. Gojira fell to the ground, Naruto holding on to the spines of his summon to prevent himself from falling. Shishio then pounced on Gojira and began to bite and scratch at his opponent.

"FINISH HIM, SHISHIO-SAMA!" Megumi cheered on her boss summon. The audience watched, literally on the edge of their seats as Shishio continued to attack Gojira, sparks flying from the clash against the monster's durable scales. Shishio then saw one of its slashes had gotten through and a thin line of emerald liquid bled from Gojira's left shoulder to its left pectoral. Seeing the opportunity, the lion boss continued to slash, causing more lines of green blood to blow from the reptile. Though the blood loss was hardly anything to be worried about, it was obvious they were quite painful from Gojira's roars of agony. With a bestial roar, Shishio clamped its jaws down on Gojira's shoulder and tasted blood. Gojira snarled as it raised its right arm and began bashing away at Shishio's skull, trying to free its shoulder from Shishio's iron-like grip. Shishio clamped down even harder and the Kaiju roared in pain.

Gojira's eyes then shone as a flash of green traveled up its spines. Opening its jaws, Gojira turned and let loose a mighty fire blast. Shishio roared in agony as the flames washed over his body, forcing him off of the Kaiju's body in an attempt to protect both his summoner and himself. Megumi hid behind a plate of Shishio's armour which was able to resist high temperature, but even she could feel the intense heat of Gojira's flames and she was sweating profusely as a result.

'What the...What the hell is this thing?' Megumi and Shishio thought as Gojira slammed a brutal tail strike to Shishio's body and sent the feline through the air. Shishio crashed into the ground and was about to rise to his feet once more, only to see Gojira charging forth. Gojira leaped and flipped in midair, an action that had Naruto wailing in fright of falling and having to using chakra to keep atop the beast, and slammed down on the gargantuan lion. The golden furred lion released a roar of pain as the armour on its back bore a large dent and some of his ribs were broken too.

"Shishio-sama!" Megumi cried out as she climbed out of the armour. Her eyes widened as a shadow washed over her form and she looked up in fear as the golden eyed Kaiju watched down. Gojira then raised a single foot and planted it down on Shishio's downed form before releasing a roar to the heavens along with a blast of green fire.

"I apologize for my failure, Megumi." Shishio said.

"No...no, it's okay. You were great, it's just that this time our opponent was much...much stronger than us." Megumi said as she looked at Naruto and Gojira release their cries of victory. Shishio nodded and Gojira looked down at him as if challenging the lion boss try and fight it off. However, the lion merely gave a nod of acknowledgement and surrender to his opponent. Gojira gave a nod of its own before lifting its foot off of the golden feline.

"I expect a rematch with you." Gojira responded to the challenge with a snort of flames and a toothy grin. Shishio then vanished in a plume of smoke and Megumi fell to her knees.

There was silence throughout the stadium before the proctor released an audible gulp that seemed to echo throughout the stadium. With a shaking arm, the proctor pointed at Naruto.

"SH-SH-SHOUSHA...U-UZUMAKI NARUTO!"

There were quite a large number of clapping and cheering, but people were still in too much shock as it was revealed that a majority of the audience was just sitting there with their eyes wide and jaws agape.

Gojira allowed Naruto to jump into the palm of its forelimb and grinned at its summoner.

"Well done, Gojira. Like I said, you're one badass motherfucker no one wants to mess with." Naruto congratulated his summon. The Kaiju released a few growls and a roar in response.

**"He says he thanks you for allowing him to fight and also for aiding him in finally being outside of that caged land."** Kamina translated. **"I assume the caged land is the Demon's Hunting Ground."**

"Oh, well you're welcome then buddy. Now go on, return to the Hunting Grounds." The Kaiju seemed to frown as it released a soft, lengthy roar in reply.

**"Gojira wishes to know why he cannot simply stay here and if he does return, he wishes to know if you will still be willing to summon him to aid you in battle." **

'Damn Kamina, you get all that from a single roar?'

**"I'll admit, the language is a rather odd one, especially this ancient dialect that the Kaiju were known to use but it's not anything I can't handle."**

"Well..." Naruto returned his attention to Gojira, "The reason you can't stay is because the people...well their terrified of you and their scared as fuck." Gojira looked around at the audience and sweat dropped when it saw the ENTIRE stadium flinch at his gaze, even the three kage, the hidden ANBU and Jiraya.

"And don't worry about a thing, if you return back to the Demon's Hunting Ground, I promise..." Naruto patted Gojira's snout, "I promise, I will summon you to aid me in some of my big fights. I mean, I do have a toad summoning contract after all and they might hurt me for knowing I have you to fight with me too."

Naruto's explanation seemed to satisfy the Kaiju as Gojira rested Naruto on the ground gently before giving one last roar before vanishing in a cloud of smoke.

'Damn that roar sounds so badass.'

**"Mine sounds better."** Kurama said causing both Kamina and Naruto to sweat drop at the kitsune's comment.

Naruto shook his head before he heard footsteps come along towards his way, taking notice he looked up to see Megumi walk towards him. His eyes were calm, his body language hidden enough to make her notice his caution. Once she came close enough the two stared at each other; eyes focused upon each other like two territorial predators claiming their mark on the land. It wasn't until her body relaxed; her narrowed eyes calmed that she gave a small smile and held out her hand toward him.

"I have to say Uzumaki-san, you are full of surprises. I never expected you to summon the Kaiju of Kiri." She said, "Though alone you were a worthy opponent, to make me summon Shishio-sama is a feat only the elite have ever had the opportunity to do."

Naruto paused for a moment before he chuckled, grabbing her hand and giving his a firm grip, "Well I am Konohagakure's most unpredicted able shinobi, I would like to keep that title up ya know?" He said as he grinned, "And call me Naruto, no need to be formal."

Megumi raised her eyebrow, she never met a shinobi quite like him before. Confident in battle, but laid back when not. She smiled at the blonde. He was a very interesting man indeed. "Naruto Uzumaki, I'll be sure to remember you and our fine battle as I hope you remember mine."

"Of course, I wouldn't want to forget a strong opponent either. It just means that if I meet them again it makes it all worthwhile to see if they got stronger. That's how some bonds of friendship are made!" Naruto let go of her hand and took a few steps back, "I hope that one day when we face each other it will be as fellow chunin. Become stronger Megumi, I'd like to face you and Shishio one day." He said as he jumped into onto the balcony and landed where the competitors resided.

'Friends…heh' Megumi paused, smiling as her cat like eyes sharpened, 'A rival to gain above all others…I'll look forward to our next fight' She thought as she followed afterwards.

The proctor rose his hand as he spoke out, "The next match this round will be Urashima Keito of Kirigakure versus Samui of Kumogakure! Will the competitors please come down!"

Naruto looked down as he smirked, watching the two carefully with intent. Whoever would win would face him next, both were good and probably would have gotten better within the month. However, he had an idea on who would win.

**"Theory on this battle Naruto?"** Kamina asked.

'Both are very powerful, especially for being genin no matter what is said. One specialized in nin-taijutsu and his speed is above average. There is not much I can say about his other skills, other he could be good with ninjutsu and taijutsu alone as well. This Samui girl is good with Raiton and Kenjutsu; Ero-kyofu always told me kenjutsu was a specialty for both Kiri and Kumo Shinobi, but after the civil war in Kiri, Kumo took place as the village that held the best shinobi with kenjutsu skill due the heavy loss of kenjutsu users and the seven swordsman in Kiri.' Naruto thought.

**"So you believe that the girl will win? She seems skilled enough to take the challenge and go past the next round."** The Raiju stated

'True, however I don't believe she will, I think Kyuubi knows this as much as I do. As much as he hates to admit it I could feel him observing the group.' Naruto focused upon Keito, 'Not much can go on with this Keito guy, he and the Kaguya are the real big game here. They are unpredictable and the knowledge of what their skills could be are limited, not to mention they have this aura on them that cries out for respect. These two are a lot like Neji and Gaara, no, are probably stronger than Neji in the exams and possibly rivaled Gaara's level…if me and Sasuke were facing them in our first exam, no doubt we would have lost.'

Naruto saw the match prepare as he lowered his eyes. 'As much as I don't want to underestimate the girl's abilities, I fear that I would have to side with him as the victor.'

XxXxX

Samui looked upon the black hair boy, she held a firm grip on the handle of her tanto behind her once the match started. Her cool collective nature on the outside was filled with caution on the inside. Calculating her opponent's skills from the last match she prepared a plan against his fighting style.

'His Taijutsu mixture with his element is dangerous to face. The amount of speed he bore was immense too. As good as I am with taijutsu, it's best to avoid him with hand to hand combat. It's also best if I use kenjutsu and consist of using mid-range jutsu to avoid him from coming closer than three meters from me until I come at him with an opening.' She jumped back as she grabbed a set of shuriken from her weapon pouch and threw the shuriken at him.

The platinum blonde made a hand sign.** "Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"** She said as four shuriken turned to a hundred coming at the onyx haired shinobi.

Keito smirked as he closed his eyes, seconds from his face the shuriken came. Just as that second passed, about eighty rebounded past him and flew off into different directions in the ring behind him. He opened his eyes once more giving a wide smirk across his face as he held ten shuriken in each hand. "If I'm not mistaken these are yours." He said calmly.

Samui's eyes widened slight, his speed with his hands were amazing, she barely caught a glimpse of the movements aside from blur of motion.

"If you want them back, here...allow me to give you them back in return with a small token of gratitude." He threw the twenty shuriken at her and quickly made and signs as he inhaled air.

**"Katon: Hosenka no Jutsu!"** He called out as he shot several small firebals right into the shurken, boosting their speed as well super heating the metal so that they were now red hot, literally, allowing them an extra boost of motion towards Samui.

Samui took haste, pulling out her tanto as she charged it it with lightning chakra. She struck several shuriken coming her way. Two grazed past her with intense heat, one managed to cut into her thigh, releasing the heat into the flesh causing it to burn. She gritted her teeth slightly at the pain, but endured. She looked up quickly, feeling his signature only to find him mere inches in front of her. Her eyes widened as she could feel the oncoming fist coming close toward her abdomen like it was a second sense. Quickly acting on her instincts, with a little help of her adrenaline and reflexes, she slapped his fist away and leaped back.

The Kumo kunoichi felt a bead of sweat drop upon her face as she looked onward toward her opponent.

He was fast.

He hadn't showed this kind of speed in his last battle. It just went to show that a lot of his skills were well hidden. How many shinobi in Kirigakure were this versatile in combat after getting past a civil war four years ago? Samui frowned. She quickly make a few hand signs before stabbing her tanto into the ground.

**"Raiton: Jibashi!"** With that, lightning surged into the ground from the charged blade and launched towards Keito in an instant and shocked his body.

The Kiri genin gritted his teeth as he endured the pain, giving a sheer grin of pleasure within moments. "Not bad, your jutsu tingles quite a bit…however..." He flexed his muscles and quickly lightning discharged from his body and pushed the attack away from him. The chakra sparked briefly around his body before it down. Keito rubbed his neck ad popped his back. "It's not what I thought when fighting a Kumo shinobi, it felt a bit less than what I expected." He said as he smiled, his knuckles popping once they encased themselves into a fist.

Samui pulled out her tanto from the ground and charged it with lightning. **"Raiton: Raigiri!"** It sparked heavily, barely showing the blade itself. "I never expected Kiri to have a strong genin such as yourself."

"Well you can thank the war, my family and the Mizukage for that. After the war, our shinobi academy structure was changed; less brutal, but still strict with combat training and tactical uses. My clan helped in making that because we were one of the main front lines of Kiri's rebel forces during the civil war. Our Kekkei Genkai is a form in which allows our chakra nature to combine with our fighting style. It's a body enhancement, nothing like what my preliminary opponent's enhancement ability. This is a true nin-taijutsu based art, similar to your Yotsuki clan's nin-taijutsu, only it comes to us naturally rather than getting all big and buff or branching out with storm release." Keito said.

Samui grunted. Now she remembered his name, the Urashima, well known as the Clan of the Four Beasts. They have different fighting styles consisting of the four sacred beasts from an element they have.

"And what about the Mizukage?" She asked.

"Oh yeah, almost totally forgot to add that. Thanks for reminding me" He said a coolly. "She is my Shinobi sensei. Shinji and I, we graduated at eleven, but she kept us back to this year's exams in order to hone our skills. I take it this is your first exam too?"

She paused, before giving a grunt of agreement. 'He had one whole year to hone his skills plus he graduated a year younger than the average genin. The Mizukage must have worked them to be perfect shinobi this generation has to offer in Kiri. Cool…though I need to be careful now.'

Samui raised her blade, the glowing saber crackling due to its electrified state as she rushed toward Keito in a burst of a chakra. The blade came down towards him only to be avoided as he moved his body to the left. Her strikes came at him near any weak points that she could hopefully find. Ribs, shoulders, legs, any misstep in where she could predict where his movements would come at by just his muscle movement.

Once he left his ribs open, Samui came with a horizontal slash. 'THERE!' Her blade was so close, coming just mere inches from his ribs before it came to a stop. She paused with shock as his thumb and two fingers held the blade with lightning chakra on the tips. Before she could think, pain rushed her body. A painful release of air came out of her mouth before she shifted her head down to look at what cause it. A heavy fist, drilled into her stomach and with further damage she had been backhanded by the hand that caught her blade. The platinum blonde hit the ground with a heavy thud before she got up. Her breathing was laboured and the side of her face immediately turning purple.

'I couldn't see him!' She only had a second to move as he came at her in a burst of speed, dust trailing behind his tracks as he came at her from her right side. Her chakra saber struck his forearm encased with fire. The loud clanging sound could be heard as the blade deflected off his arm. She avoided the blow that hit the ground. She could barely see what was metal arm guards that covered his forearm up to the back of his hand.

'This is becoming dangerous, my intel was wrong.' She blocked a blow in the air from one of his fists. She clashed her tanto against his fist, the blade breaking off the handle and flying past her as the flaming fist introduced itself directly into her sternum. The blow had caused her to hack blood out from her mouth in large wads. Her body flew off the ground as it made a heavy impact before she made a small crater when she landed back on the ground.

She winced as she tried to move from the crater. Her shirt tattered, she could feel that a few of her ribs were broken from the blows and the ground impact. She felt around five, maybe six were heavily broken by how badly her breathing was shortened. 'I truly…' she looked up to see Keito descending upon her. She made a few hand signs before putting her hands in front of her and closing her eyes. 'Miscalculated.'

**"Urashima-Ryu: En Bakudan!"** His flaming fist ignited into a bright crimson color as it hit the ground after a flashing light blasted in front of him and the arena, causing to blind the premises. Shortly after a explosion of extreme magnitude hit the ground.

Once the light had died down the crowd looked into the area and noticed the scorced ground beneath them, Naruto had noticed the large crater and outside of it was Samui, who was laying on the ground outside of the large crater with heavy bruising, bleeding from her mouth and forehead. In addition to the burn marks upon her upper arms and clothing, He could tell by the damage she was down. He then looked upon what the crowd was looking at. Keito standing in the crater unscathed, but his eyes were covered by his hands.

The proctor walked towards Keito and looked at the male, "Are you alright?"

Keiton grunted, "Yeah…Her last attack blinded me is all. I can't see for a while." He said, but thought otherwise.

'She had a damn trump card…to think she would use **Raiton: Taiyo-ken** even when the result would be her loss..she must have tried to use it to disable me for my next fight.' The black haired Kiri shinobi opened his eyes to feel the pain of the light in his eyes, covering them once more he sighed. 'I will just have to wait for my eyes to get comfortable to seeing again. It will take awhile...damn bitch.'

The proctor raise his arm up and shouted, "SHOUSHA, URASHIMA KEITO!"

The crowd had cheered wildly, the Mizukage smiled while the Raikage groaned in disappointment.

"Seems I need to make a better training regime for genin in my village." A said as he looked at the medical ninja taking Samui away from the arena to the hospital. "To think a genius like Samui was beaten; I'll have to talk to Yugito about being more strict on them as well."

"Don't be too hard on your shinobi Raikage-dono. It's just my students were prepared for these exams, I didn't allow them to do the last exam until their skills were truly exceptional or to my liking. That boy there is a genius much like my other student Shinji, his style is very useful against mid-range fighters due to his speed." Mizukage said.

Tsunade listened into the conversation and looked up at Jiraiya, "Do you think Naruto can handle that? I'm not doubting his skill, but he's going to face a nin-taijutsu specialist. The only experience in a taijutsu fight I've heard was with Neji Hyuuga." She said.

Jiraiya smirked, "Tsunade, that boy is my godson as well as my apprentice, I know his skills. All of his skill sets have vastly changed. What you last saw in his battle...I have no doubt you will see his other arsenal of secrets behind him."

Once the young Urashima left the arena the announcer waved the next two in. The white haired Kaguya and a brown haired shinobi from the sand. "The next match is Kaguya Shinji of Kiri versus Kurono of Suna!"

Naruto had anticipated this match for awhile. He found that this Kurono guy was a puppeteer, but he didn't use his puppet in the last match in the preliminaries and simply used his skills in taijutsu and mid ranged genjutsu to deceive his opponent several times. The boy was large for his age and muscular. However, Naruto knew what a Kaguya was capable even after fighting one about a year and a half ago. He had heard stories that the Kaguya clan were rather vicious and battle hungry shinobi, but Kimimaro wasn't. The dead Kaguya was calculating, deadly with his attacks, and thought lowly of his opponents. That made Naruto question if Shinji was anything like Kimimaro or different.

It wasn't until within the first five minutes of the match that he found that the boy would surpass the dead Kaguya. It was also the same five minutes that he could tell that the reserved nature that he held was just a shell of him hiding his vicious deadly fighting style.

Once the five minutes had ended the battle ground was covered with bones and shattered wood. Kurono had laid upon the ground, his right arm completely twisted with a small bone piercing into the palm of his hand, a large bone, identical to the ulna was pierced into his shoulder. The large boy had many grazes and puncture wounds upon his arms and legs. The fact remained that his puppet was shattered. Bones were on the field with some blood, and the young Shinji Kaguya; the small pale white haired boy had walked out of the arena unscathed.

The arena was silent from the assault. What they would have heard by many of the outside foreign shinobi was the fierce battle instincts the boy had and fear of his future development. Kiri shinobi however were a different story; they praised the boys skill as a genius of effort.

Naruto didn't pay attention to much of the conversations held by the people around him as he was stuck in thought.

**"That boy is dangerous, more dangerous than that Kaguya you faced."** Kurama said as his eyes narrowed.

'I know…Lee told me that Kimimaro guy was a dangerous opponent and that it was Gaara who managed to fight him off mostly through his Curse Mark stage.' Naruto narrowed his eyes, 'Kimimaro was trained by Orochimaru for years and was possibly Jonin level alone. This guy I'm sure is faster and more precise with his strikes…He's definitely chunin level, with jonin level speed and taijutsu.'

**"It's strange that he hadn't been promoted even so…what will happen when you manage to face him?"** Kamina said

'I'll need to be careful. I have to fight that Keito guy first, so far I think he and I will have a tough bought with each other… though I don't think he'll push me to the max. However, Shinji will definitely push me to my normal limits, I'll have to resort to using Raiju arc. I can't afford to use Kurama's chakra in a foreign shinobi territory without attracting attention' Naruto told the two.

**"Hmph, then you better do that ningen. I don't want you to be defeated by some meddling shinobi from a different country. Especailly the one that Saiken and Isobu reside."** Kurama said

'And they are?'

"Rokubi and Sanbi. Their pressence is outside the village, though I sense that Sanbi is well hidden from afar. The moron always loved playing in water."

The two others in Naruto's mind sweat dropped before Naruto disconnected and prepared for the next fight to commence.

Omoi stared in at Kurotsuchi and pondered at deep thought, this was Sandaime Tsuchikage's grandaughter, meaning he probably didn't slack off her training or anything. He was worried at first before Karui punched him in the back of the head earlier today. Now his thoughts were once more refocused on the situation at hand.

'She play a key a role in the preliminaries, I doubt her skills aren't just for show either. What if she's hiding her true strength like the other guys? What if she's weaker? What if she has some plot in hand to try and-' a rock smacked across his head causing him to hold his head in pain.

"Quit over-thinking and fight you dumbass!" Karui exclaimed, fire burning in her eyes. Omoi shuddered for a brief second, arching back up to only appear calm and collective. She was right, now was not the time to over think the situation at hand. He must try and win this. If he doesn't he will bring shame to Kumo, he will get punched by Karui and get sent to the hospital, Samui will give in the cold shoulder, he-.

"Stop thinking dumbass!" Karui screamed out. The crowd sweatdropped as they watched the red haired kunoichi before inching away from her, something she didn't notice as she was too busy glaring at Omoi.

'I'll just shut up now.' He thought to himself, pulling out his sword and preparing for the battle at hand.

"HAJIME!"

Kurotsuchi made hand signs.** "Doton: Tsuchi Bunshin No Jutsu!"** At that release four clones slowly rose from the earth below and ascended next to the Kunoichi from the land of earth, taking a form of her doppelganger. The kunoichi pulled out a Kunai and with he clones rushed out towards her opponent.

Two of the clones came rushing at Omoi, one coming down with an inverted axe kick, the other coming with a mid-roundhouse kick to his back. Omoi could see this coming, moving his body away from the descending kick and charging his blade with a powerful thrust, slicing the clones head off and turning it back into the earth once more. The other clone came with a barrage of fists that were carefully avoided by the dark-skinned Kumo shinobi. It wasn't until the opening the clone left out that Omoi had obtained an opportunity by cutting off the clone's arm.

He looked forward, Kurotsuchi coming close to him as he used his blade to guard him from the kunai strike, upon that she had struck with resilient force with her short knife into the blade. Omoi pushed her back with chakra increased strength, pushing the sde of his blade onto her as she flew back.

Kurotsuchi however, had prepared for this, she pulled out three smaller kunai from her pouch with explosive tags wrapped around the ends and threw them at Omoi. She quickly made hand signs, preparing for him to move out of the explosive kunai's way. She wasn't going to let him go unscathed.

**"Katon: Endan!"** She called out spewing a giant ball of fire out of her mouth toward the kunai. As it neared Omoi and its objective, it enveloped the kunai and quickly ignited the small explosive tags on the blade causing a shockwave of fire and intense heat to surround the area near Omoi.

Omoi leaped back, though couldn't avoid the shockwave. He flew out of range and hit the wall of the arena. He grunted for a moment before sensing a chakra signal come by as he saw four more fire balls come at him. He threw his sword onto the ground before back flipping on the wall of the arena. He avoided the searing flames and leaped off the wall and and landed on the bottom hilt of his blade, flipping once more as he grabbed it onto his hand and pulled it out of earth.

Another fireball came down toward him, he channeled his chakra into his sword and sliced the fireball in half in a horizontal direction.

**"Kumo-Ryu: Mikazukigiri"** He looked at the kunoichi and rushed at her with amazing speed. Now was his time to attack. He came closer until a shadow above caught his eye. 'Kuso, I forgot about the clones!' He thought as he rushed back to avoid the doppelgangers.

**"Suiton: Mizurappa!"**

**"Doton: Doryudan no jutsu!"**

Omoi shifted back, avoiding the water jutsu, but being hit by the earth form dragon dead on. He smacked into the ground, groaning in pain as he moved his limbs that were covered by mud and thus made his movement slower.

The white haired, dark skinned boy looked up to see Kurotsuchi panting slightly. She depleted quite a bit of chakra going on a ninjutsu barrage like that. It was a brash, but smart on her move for her to allow him not to think through strategy.

Omoi lifted his heavy mud arms, 'Have to strike while she's there.' He thought as he made handsigns.** "Raiton: Gian!"** He cried out releasing a large beam of lightning

Kurotsuchi looked at the large beam of light coming towards her and she made hand signs as fast as possible. One of her clones coming next to her as it did identical hand signs.

**"Doton: Doryuheki!"**

Two massive slabs of stone rose from the ground and up in front of them just as soon as the attack came. It pushed right into the two slabs of earth, completely shattering one into rubble, the other crumbling down and cracking until it eviscerated the base of the earth. The blast pushed forward as it exploded in front of him. Smoke rose and debris fell, smoke had died down as the clearing appeared showing a fallen Kurotsuchi on the ground.

Omoi had closed his eyes in relief. This battle was finally over. Then he heard a soft clunk which made him slowly open his eyes. Eyes quickly widening as the Kurotushi in front of his was turning into rubble.

**"Yonton: Sekkaigyo no jutsu!"**

'Wha-' He then noticed the sky darkening behind him. Looking back he saw a giant glob of gray liquid come down upon him. 'She substituted her last Kage Tsuchi Bunishin!'

He quickly summoned his own clone which pulled his arm and attempted to throw him out of the way from the supplementary attack. However, as the attack came down, a glob of the cement like liquid covered Omoi's left arm once the clone let go. The clone itself became covered and was solidified by the concrete. Omoi's panted as he felt his arm become immobilized, stiffened by the concrete.

Kurotsuchi came down and slammed upon the concrete statue clone, crushing it. Her right arm was covered by a giant stone like fist as she narrowed her eyes.

"No more games!" She yelled as she rushed toward Omoi. "I'm going to finish this now!"

Omoi grunted as he moved his body, but due to the heavy clothing he could not avoid Kurotsuchi's attack. He would have to try and dodge, using his concrete layered arm, he would hope the solid mass would break from the impact. He shifted his forearm toward his body in front of the oncoming rock fist and braced himself for impact.

Once the impact came, he felt the shatter of stone and he heard an audible crack emit from his arm. The concrete was destroyed, but he felt the thriving sensation of pain course through his arm. The price of freeing his arm was the severe damage, his forearm broken.

He skidded back, keeping his arm in front of him; the bone had protruded slightly out of the skin and flesh and the color of his skin now sported a tinge of purple. He grunted as he moved his arm to his side. He narrowed his eyes, his eyes lids droopy as he stared at Kurostuchi. His sword remained in his right hand.

'Seems like this is it.' He thought seeing Kurotsuchi come toward him with her rock fist intact. He ran toward her as he gripped his blade handle firmly. 'I may not be able to make it to the next round…but-'

The two ran into each other with a burst of speed and the sound of impact was heard through the arena. Everyone paused as the looked upon the scene.

Kurotsuchi didn't move a muscle, a low groan came out of her mouth as she fell to the ground. Blood has ran down the back of her head as she was hit in the back of the head heavily by the blunt edge of Omoi's blade. Omoi wuld have stood victorious until he too slowly fell. The large bruising in his abdomen showing a fractured ribcage.

'I…can at least take her down with me.' Was the last thought that crossed his mind before passing out and hitting the ground.

The proctor rushed toward them checking their pulse and seeing if either were conscious. Once he raised his hand, he spoke. "Both Kurotsuchi and Omoi are unconscious; therefore neither participants will not pass to the next round! THIS MATCH IS A DRAW!" He announced.

A low groan of disappointment entered the arena with some chatting of the amazing fight. Naruto however was now focused. though with eyes closed.

'Now...' He opened his eyes looking upon Keito and then at Shinji. 'It's just us three left.'

**End**

**Oh mother of Chuck Norris I am finally done with this chapter! Do you know how long I was stuck on this chapter, almost more than a month. I swear that is just the saddest thing ever for me since I never had so much trouble with this.**

**Sorry it took so long guys, I had trouble with Naruto's fight, but thankfully Kitsune helped me by finish what I started with Naruto and Megami's fight scene which I have to say is pretty epic! As for Keito and Samui's fight, if you guys feel it's one sided then you should understand that Keito and Shinji are both OC's I personally created. Why they are strong is simple, they just got through a civil war the changed their lives, they matured and developed faster as shinobi. The reason why they are genin is simply because they needed development as character, as a team, and to strengthen themselves against foreign shinobi. If I were to say skill wise now no doubt Keito would be a Chuunin - High Chuunin level shinobi and Shinji being around a Tokubetsu Jonin.**

**In case for those who were wondering why I skipped Shinji's fight is because for three reasons. First, I wanted to keep Shinji's moves secretive until the part two of finals. While he will have the same set of moves like Kimmimaro he will have a variety of techniques that will be completely different from our well known Kaguya. Second is because the oppoent he faced really wasn't up for development, I had no interest in making a small OC in which would only be seen once (he's dead no anyway so what's the point lol). Lastly…I just wanted to piss you guys off XD**

**Anyway, me and Kitsune have finally decided that this pairing would be a Naruto x Fuu Pairing. It was a Hard choice between her, Mei and Hinata (Hinata and Mei being my idea because I wanted a wild flirt, that was my plan for making hinata. Basically identical to road of ninja Hinata) however, after debating points we came to an official agreement. **

**One person also asked me how strong would Naruto be once he returns to Konoha. To be honest I don't see him being stronger than Jiaiya, that would be ridiculous until later on. However, I would say he would be at Kakashi's level of skill, I have some idea's that I'll be sharing with Kitsune about Naruto's bloodline and other things while I make the next chapter (which will be out hopefully by next week or a little more). **

**Lastly for those who read my Jinchurriki of Chaos; guess what, it's coming back boys and girls! I'll be primarily working on that story now in april, I will work on Raiju, but me and Kitsune will stop and put Raiju on hold after we are at the return arc for a short project we will be working on this summer. We'll surprise you. **

**This is D.D. have a good day boys and girls.**

**Kitsunedragon's Note:**_** Hey guys, Kitsunedragon here. Now I know a lot of you have been anxious for this chapter, but hopefully it was worth the wait. The fight between Naruto and Megumi was of my own design, but with a bit of discussing with D.D, we came to a consensus to have Naruto use Gojira instead of Gamabunta in his summoning battle. So, thank your wonderful co-authors for making Gojira such an important part of this story. Also, to those of you who read this story and also follow my NarutoxFairy Tail crossover, Dragonslayer, I would just like to inform you that I have been extremely busy with school lately. I have my priorities and my education comes before anything, but the school term is nearly done so I may be able to manage a chapter or two of Dragonslayer since I have my end of term exams going on and plus the fact that my vacation is only two weeks long and we all know how fast time is flying these days. So don't fret, I have not abandoned this story (wouldn't even cross my mind), but I am having a bad case of writer's block for my PokemonxNaruto story, Naruto: Johto Journeys, so I'm trying to handle that before I move on to you enjoyed this chapter of Raiju**_


	7. Chapter 7

_**I do NOT own Naruto or any of the Toho monsters, they belong to Kishimoto and Toho company.**_

**Hey guys D.D. back with a new chapter for you all, this is the final chapter for the chunin exams, which I will be most happy to announce was probably one of most interesting parts in the story so far, this chapter will possibly be my favorite with how I am going to make it. Be prepared for some intense fighting, **

**So I have some announcements to make, one with Gojira, he will not be the only Kaiju in this story; there will be others as well. One from each major country and well known smaller countries. I was talking about this with Kitsune and I felt it was good idea. As for what will be the point with them in the future chapters, well that will be a secret. ( I already picked some that would be greatly suitable for each country, two or three have not been decided yet) **

**I loved the reviews you guys sent me and Kitsune, which is awesome. The more reviews we get the more we will enjoy writing this story. We will not quit this story by any means unless something major occurs. We will put this story on a hold (like we will during the summer time for a special that Kitsune and myself have planned for you guys), however, it will be only once or twice. **

**Lastly, I wanted to remind you guys that this will only be a 1x1 pairing story. That means no harems or slight harems. I don't think I will ever do a harem fic, though I might consider a slight harem in the future, but nothing else. This story will be a NarutoxFu and as much as there are pros and cons to this me and Kitsune agreed to this pairing over NarutoxMei, which was also a good pairing in mind. Though I will add said pairing in the future with other stories I have in mind. **

**Also if you guys want me to do one shots then just let me know, I have a couple in mind, they won't be too long and they won't be too short, they'll be around 5-7 k. So expect some one shots in the later future when I am not truly busy with school or when summer is about to hit. **

**Any way let's begin!**

**Chapter 7: Storm Front - Blood and Bone**

The three combatants had now stood within the arena once more. All three focused on the proctor as he was talking through the reviewing match up. Of course, this chunin exams was in favour of one specific character in this final exam. Sadly for Naruto, it wasn't him.

"As you now know, the three of you are now the only ones remaining in this tournament. Usually I would announce that this match be a triple battle between the three of you. However, due to the changes in our exams the last person who fought last round will go to the last round of the finals with a by." The proctor looked over to Naruto and Keito, "Which means that the two of you will fight. Whoever wins will go to the next round to face Kaguya Shinji."

Keito simply shrugged while Naruto closed his eyes and focused on the current match up. This wouldn't go into his favor, quite a back step in his original plan of having breaks during fights to re-organize his battle tactics for later matches. His eyes appeared under his hood, the wild oceans within them had poured out with serene calmness and confidence.

"I have a question." Naruto stated as he looked over to the proctor. "Whoever wins this match, will they get a chance to respite before the next match up?"

The proctor looked over toward the hooded blonde and smirked, "The Mizukage had requested that the winner of the coming match will have a 30 minute interval to recuperate. Any longer and the victory will go over to the opponent of the next round."

Naruto looked over to Shinji in the corner of his eye, of course he would be the most out come victor if that were the case. If either Naruto or Keito came out of this match it wouldn't be unscathed. Though the difference would be if he would win the next round he wouldn't have to worry. Due to Kurama, his wounds would heal and any chakra lost would be replenished. Not that Naruto had to worry about chakra, he was monster with stamina and endurance alone.

"Good, it wouldn't be fair for the audience to see a battle that would end in a short and unimpressive manner." The blonde lowered his eyes,_ 'It will also give me time to reorganize my tactics.'_

**"As much as tactics will help you I don't think that will be easy, planning takes time that you don't have."** The Raiju said. **"Sometimes you will just need to go with pure instinct."**

**"That thunder beast is right gaki. You just got your smarts awhile back, but your not like that foolish Nara friend of yours. I think you just need to improvise and use anything you have."** Kurama chuckled, **"Who knows, these two fights might bring out the best in you, of course I could always be wrong."** The fox said

_'True I may not be as smart as the lazy ass, but I know my way around a good fight.' _Naruto clenched his fist before he let his hand relax, _'Besides, I've come this far, I won't stop until I become the last man standing in this exam. If I'm going to be pushed to my limit then I'll surpass it and push my opponents to their limit!' _He said to them as he grinned.

Kamina looked over to the Uzumaki through the recesses of said Uzumaki's mindscape. **'You sound a lot like those two, your chakra even feels like its begun to change…like predecessor before you' **He thought.** 'Could it be…?'**

"Now if Uzumaki Naruto and Urashima Keito will please stay here for their match then we can begin. Kaguya Shinji, please go back to the balcony until further instruction." The Kaguya grunted as he jumped over to the balcony with a boost of chakra. The instructor looked over upon Naruto and Keito, "Now you two, get onto the opposite sides of the field."

The two shinobi looked over to each other, their gazes never separated as they walked across opposite sides. Each step they took felt like time slowed to Naruto. He could feel the wave of excitement course through his opponent and himself. Said waves were battling each other in the moment of preparation as they both were anxious to meet with hand to hand. Naruto had not felt anything like this, not even with his so called best friend. With Sauske it was a battle of jealousy and pride, anger and envy clashing into one another. This was just for the sheer fun of it.

Naruto got into his natural taijutsu stance, keeping in that position as his opponent made a strong fist stance. Naruto's eyes intensified as they were like a raging ocean amongst the stormy weather. He was prepared for the march of war between his opponent and himself.

"I've been waiting for this" He heard his opponent say. He looked into his red eyes and smirked as his opponent continued. "You were the most interesting out of all the competitors here aside from Shinji. I have to say that even during your fight in these finals I knew that you were going to be a worthy opponent, an opponent that I can break before facing my greatest rival." He said.

'This guys sounds so much like Lee when it came to him and Neji.' Our favorite blonde thought.

"It was a good fight. I had to put some effort into it, though my other skills haven't shown yet." Naruto gave a fox like smile "Seeing your last fight, I wonder if you have what it takes to handle me." He said jokingly.

Keito smirked as his chakra flared up, his hair flowing up slightly, "We'll have to see, now won't we" he said tightening his fists.

"Uzumaki Naruto of Konoha versus Urashima Keito of Kiri! Hajime!" The proctor shouted.

In that split second, all one could see was a pair of blurred shadows as the two clashed into each other. A shockwave pushed dirt behind them back as both shinobi held their ground. Their arms began to shake as their muscles tightened, aiming to produce the greater amount of force for dominance. Finally, they pushed away from each other, skidding backwards as they landed. Keito had made the first move by speeding forth, going with a low punch to the stomach, though Naruto grabbed the black haired shinobi's wrist tightly, hooking his arm under Keito's arm pit and throwing the brunette over his head.

Keito flipped into the air a couple times as he landed on his feet with ease and took notice as Naruto was instantly in front of him. A fist came toward his sternum, but Keito slapped it away with ease toward the ground. The momentum of the blonde's body going downward made the Kiri shinobi gaze into the face of opportunity as he moved his leg upward to kick the blonde in the abdomen. Naruto however, moved quickly as he grabbed Keito's leg. The blonde placed a now open hand onto the ground and twirled his body with speed, moving his leg up to commence a rising roundhouse.

Keito looked through the corner of his eyes, seeing the fast moving kick. He moved his chin, barely avoiding the blow as his cheek bone received a painful graze from the heel of Naruto's shoe. A small cut on his cheek was the result. The red eyed male grabbed Naruto's ankle, giving it a powerful pull as he lifted Naruto off his feet and spun the blonde around. He had begun to spin faster before a kick came to his face from Naruto's other foot. The brunette had let go of the blonde's ankle, sending him flying somewhat and hitting the ground before allowing the blonde to jump back up with ease.

'He seems to be off his A-game or is really testing me?' Naruto thought as with a burst of speed, he launched a right hook into Keito's stomach, allowing for the wind to get knocked out of him. Naruto then came with a straight left punch to the face, twisting his body at the hip to give his arm more momentum and reach. He then spun on his heel, building up the momentum to release a right hook which nailed the Kiri shinobi in the ribs before dropping low and channeling the force through his legs, performed a devastating uppercut that scored against the teen's sternum. Naruto quickly saw his opponent's pained expression and took advantage of it so as to cause further damage as he aimed a strong haymaker directly into the black haired boy's temple and then a right hook into the face once more before setting a powerful head butt to the nose. The Kiri shinobi skidded back a few feet away before coming to a stop. The young Urashima's face twitched in pain.

_'Seems that he has a glass face.' _Naruto said.

**"Don't you mean jaw?"** Kurama asked.

_'Whatever._' Naruto's eyes narrowed at the bijuu as he got back into his fighting stance. He knew well enough that this fight was far from over.

Keito's body stopped twitching as he instantly shifted his head to face his opponent, his eyes closed as he hummed and popped his neck, stretching his body. The blows that had received seemed to have faded and not a mark, aside from the cut given earlier, had remained on his pale white skin. He gave a chuckle before opening his eyes to look directly at the blonde.

"Thanks for the head knocking, I've been having to pop my neck for the last week, but couldn't due to cramp." He flexed his muscles, "That was nice of you, but let me return the favor."

An instant later Naruto felt saliva come out of his mouth as he felt the impact of the punch in his abdominal area. He quivered for a bit, looking at Keito who smirked. It was only in that moment that Naruto gave a grin before he exploded into smoke slightly surprising Keito.

_'A clone?!' _Then the sky darkened briefly above him. He quickly shifted his body to the right and saw a flash of color out of his peripheral vision. Reacting quickly, he reached out and found his hand gripping Naruto's wrist as it blonde's fist that was coming down upon him. He then snaked his right arm underneath the blonde's assaulting limb before tightening his grip on his wrist. He pushed downwards as Naruto's arm was now locked in place by the black haired boy's right arm while also being forced downward by the left. This resulted in Naruto's arm being caught in an armlock which flexed his shoulder and arm mucles quite painfully. Naruto gritted his teeth as his attempted to push back against his opponent's applied force.

"How did you make a clone so fast?" Keito asked.

"A whole lot of training that's what. I've been practicing on mastering Kage Bunshin without the use of hand signs and chakra use for almost a week during training. The rest of the weeks I did some special training of my own." Naruto said as he smirked.

Keito nodded before he continued to force Naruto's arm into a hyper extended state, but the blonde quickly forced chakra into his muscles and managed to free his arm. However, Keito adapted quicker than Naruto would have ever thought possible and he found his opponent had gripped his arm with both hands, having spun around so that his back was now facing him, and jammed his hip against Naruto's own so as to provide the necessary leverage to throw Naruto over his shoulder. As Naruto was slammed into the ground, Keito straddled him and then punched the blonde in the face only for him to explode into smoke once more which surprised him.

However, more smoke clouded his vision as a few more clones appeared from the earth, having used **Henge no Jutsu** to disguise themselves as rocks and patches of grass.

**"U-"** One clone punched Keito in the face sending him skidding backwards before three more clones crashed their legs into him at different intervals.

**"ZU-MA-KI!"** They cried out their respective syllables when they made contact. The crowd and Keito himself suddenly found themselves gaping in awe as a storm of blondes descended from all available angles, their fists reared back.

**"Naruto Nisen Rendan!"** Cried out the clones

Keiton scoffed before he grinned, _'This...is what I have been waiting for!' _He thought. His grin widened as the clones neared him, but as they did, Keito's body flared with chakra and orange flames formed around his arms and legs.

**"Urashima Ryu: Katon: Engan!"** With a flurry of fast moving fists of fire he shot rapid moving fireballs directly upon the clones, dispersing them one by one at alarming rates. He then pushed his feet off on the few remaining clones, burning them with his flaming legs and ascended in the air. The original Naruto was all that was left the clone army and the blue eyed boy could only watch as Keito leaped above him and raise his ignited foot. A stream of orange flame followed behind it as he brought down the foot in the form of a blazing axe kick.

Naruto looked upon his opponent coming down. Crossing his arms in a defensive position, he blocked the kick, though the searing heat burned right through his jacket's sleeves, leaving small singe marks upon his skin as was pushed down towards the ground by the kick. He landed on one knee, his opponent coming afterwards with flaming fists at the ready. Keito landed away from Naruto when he landed in a crouched position.

Once his knuckles touched the land below, the earth shook. Cracks branched forth from the point of contact as the earth had split with plumes of fire shooting out.

**"Katon: Goken!" **He roared out as the flames rose up twenty feet around the area, rocks exploding out of the ground and falling back towards earth as miniature meteors from the heavens.

_'Kuso!' _The blonde thought as flames surrounded him and rose to a maximum height of twenty feet into the air before smoke and debris caused said flames to be nothing more than small lights in the ground.

The arena centre was now a broken crater of approximately one metre in depth, the lush green grass was now burnt and blackened by the flames. Keito looked upon Naruto and smirked, seeing fire natured chakra around the boy in minor parts of his body. However, Naruto's body was still singed, burnt, and hot from the flames. Overall though, he seemed unaffected. 'So he too has a Fire chakra nature.' Keito thought as he made handsigns.

**"Katon: Goukakyu no Jutsu!"** The black haired boy cried out, shooting out a large concentrated ball of fire upon the blonde.

Narto saw the oncoming spheroid of flame and made his own hand signs as he inhaled. **"Katon:-"** Quickly exhaling, he spouted a thick stream of fire which had broadened out into a giant wall of streaming fire. **"Gouka Mekkyaku!"** Quickly, the wall made impact and connected to the fireball. The two jutsus were fighting over dominance from both opposite forces who were exuding more chakra into their attacks. The stream of flames from Naruto's jutsu however had begun to make its power known as it surrounded the fireball and consumed it, moving in the direction of the member of the Urashima clan.

Keito smirked as he charged more Katon chakra into his fist as he had thrust it forward. **"Katon: Goken!"** The concentrated strong fist pushed fire chakra forward like a missile and shot it directly into the oncoming stream. The jutsu had crashed against Naruto's own with titanic force, enough to push Naruto back slightly.

Naruto pushed more chakra forward, he had to stop some point. He had not had complete mastery over this technique. It was quickly becoming overpowered by the nin-taijutsu specialist's technique. Naruto frowned and summoned a clone as it had began to make hand signs at fast speeds and performed a jutsu.

**"Katon: Gouryuuka no Jutsu!"** It spat out two dragon heads from its mouth and the flaming heads rose into the air before descending down toward the taijutsu specialist of Kiri.

Keito put more force into his technique as he had forced the flaming stream wall to die out. He moved up as he jumped at great heights near the two dragon heads. "You're going to have to take me more seriously Uzumaki!" He yelled out. He then channeled fire chakra into his legs and flames burst forth. However, these flames took on a light shade of blue.

"HERE, THESE ARE YOURS!" Keito roared as he brought his legs back and lashed out with powerful kicks. To Naruto's surprise, the flames of his own jutsu appeared as if they were solid as Keito's chakra overpowered his own. The result was Keito kicking the dragon heads back towards Naruto with great power.

Naruto stared in shock at the ease of the kicks that had turned the draconian fire balls back on their user. Naruto's clone had swung the blonde off the ground and into the air before the fireballs came down upon the earth causing an explosion. A small mushroom cloud formed as fire and rock blasted upward.

Naruto grunted, feeling the intense blast wave blow past him, pushing him higher. Sensing a burst of chakra however, made him turn to see Keito right next to him, using his fire chakra to shoot him off like a rocket towards Naruto. A burning fist came down toward Naruto. The Kyuubi jinchuriki could only cross his arms over his face and torso as a punch connected. The punch itself was intense and he could see in that one punch was in truth ten punches directly into his forearms.

Naruto was pushed down, descending towards the ground before Keito appeared behind him and rammed a knee into his back sending him upward a few feet before his hand was caught firmly by one of Keito's burning hands. Naruto looked at Keito whose hands were on both ankles. A smile came across his face as flames ignited around his body before two more set of arms that were formed within the flames. Naruto released a scream that sounded like bloody murder as his bare flesh was being burned.

**"Urashima Ryu: Asura no Enken!"** Keito pulled Naruto over one of his two sets of fire hands grabbing Naruto by his wrists and ankles, the hands burning the boys skin around the area slowly as they were gripping tightly upon him. Naruto struggled to free himself, to get away from the cause of his burning flesh, but to no avail. The two had descended towards earth with great speed before crashing in the ground, with Naruto as the cushion.

Naruto coughed heavily, spitting out saliva and blood as he grunted in pain. He looked at his opponent who held a vicious excitement in his eyes. The worst however had came when Naruto felt an impact with his ribs which made him gasp out air. Another series a painful blows upon his chest came down onto him as his opponent did not wast a minute. With each minute. Naruto wanted to scream, but only silence escaped his throat. Blood dribbling down his lip as he could feel muscles being tenderized and bones being bruised and meshed from the blows.

Naruto could tell his body was trying its best to hold on, but the pain of the fiery punches was making his conscious strain from the continuous pain. His eyes dazed out as he grew to an unconscious state and slowly felt the world coming to darkness in his eyes. It wasn't until a shock in his mind awoke his state of mind.

_'What?'_

**"Quit wasting your time Naruto, this shouldn't hold you down."** Kamina said growling.

Naruto felt the punches continue before anger and instincts began to build up. Adrenaline was pumping to the point where the punches didn't feel like punches at all, just mild pokes. Naruto closed his eyes and chakra into his arms and legs, his eyes became cold ice blue, a ring of violet outlining his eyes and within the oncoming punch Naruto released a burst of lightning chakra electrifying Keito's body and chakra system.

The chakra was enough for the brunette to loosen his grip on the blond. Taking this opportunity Naruto quickly shifted his arms out free his hands. His hands moved quickly, several quick punches ramming near the nervous points of Keito's chest around the lungs and heart area. The punches themselves held a mixture of lightning and wind chakra which amplified the blows and set the Kiri genin back. The blonde jinchurriki shifted his feet up into Keito's sternum pushing with enough force to send the brunette into the air.

Keiton once he landed on the ground, he tumbled, but managed to right himself, getting on one knee once he came to a stop. As he was coughing out some blood, red eyes looked at Naruto with weary stare, hand pressed upon his body as he could feel numbness and slight muscle spasms on his chest.

_'What the hell was that?' _Keito thought watching the blonde get up, throwing his burnt jacket to show his full features. A face no longer holding large quantities of round flesh, hair somewhat longer than what he had previously seen the boy have. The boy had a black and teal tank top on with black gloves. What held Keito's attention was not the features that had changed, but Naruto's eyes that held a cold, serious nature to them.

Naruto shifted, adjusting his posture to put himself in a stance that was truly identical to Wing Chun, though completely foreign to all shinobi in the vicinity. Wind chakra had now channeled around Naruto's hands. It wasn't wild and sharp; it held a smooth and gentle, but fierce feature to it. Naruto stood patiently for his opponent, watching him carefully like a hunter waiting for the kill.

The look upon the blondes face had agitated the brunette, a rage the slowly built inside the male. His six fiery arms ignited into a such intense heat, the degree would be about 1000 degrees. Short bursts of speed and the black haired shinobi came, shooting a barrage of fireballs coming out of the flaming fists.

Naruto shifted his feet once the flames drew near. He came onto the offensive slapping the hot flames away with ease as he aimed them in different sections and different directions of the arena. Some had hit the walls while others landed on the ground, Naruto never paid attention to the fall of flames as his eyes remained locked onto Keito. Once he saw Keito prepare his move once more Naruto moved his hand up to show a seal, that exact seal glowed upon Keito's chest.

**'Fuuin!'** Once the seal shone, a pulse of chakra was released and everything had stopped. Silence fell upon the world as the crowd watched as Keito seemed to freeze in his movements. Keito's coughed up a glob of blood before looking at Naruto with shock. His vision seemed to blur before he fell, forming a small dust cloud. The young Urashima was struggling to get up, teeth gritting in effort.

Keiton ground his teeth in anger as he arched his back up, slowly getting onto his knees as he was breathing heavily. Sweat dripping from his brow from just the strain of getting up.

"What...did you d-do!" He growled, getting slowly on one foot.

Naruto smirked as he rushed toward Keito and he rammed his palms into Keito's sternum. A fist followed, quickly hitting his heart, then another segment of punches into his shoulders and onto his face into a series of repetitive blows. The blonde quickly shifted his leg behind Keito's pulling his leg back to allow the brunette to suddenly find himself in free fall. Though the blonde didn't give the genin a chance to even touch down as he thrust a palm into the sternum one more time as a burst of wind pushed the heir of the Urashima clan into the wall with blunt force. Once the ninja smacked into the wall, he made it crack in several place before sliding down it.

"I placed a gravity seal on your chest during the time you had pinned me down. I couldn't do so in the beginning of the match because I know you like to be brutal with your fighting as seen within the first two matches previous to ours. It was only until now that I was able find some of spots where your defenses were weak." The blonde closed his eyes. "You should give up now, that gravity seal makes the gravity that's holding you down five times greater than regular gravity. It does not matter how physically strong you are right now, you won't be able to get up a second time with the blows you received."

"And you should shut up you fool!" Keito yelled, getting the blonde to look at him. "If you think this will hold me down, you are sorely mistake!"

"Then prove me wrong." Naruto simply stated to the brunette, he saw at that moment that the boy's eyes turned from red to completely white. The flames had died around his body, his extra arms made of fire gone. Naruto looked upon the scene before he felt the rising levels of chakra and heat building. His eyes slightly widened as he took upon seeing Keito's skin turning crimson.

Flames erupted upon the boy, etching into his skin and hair, but were heavily concentrated upon his forearms, hands, legs and shoulders. The boy gave a wild roar as his muscles bulged and tensed, the clothes on his upper body completely burned off his body due to the flames. The boy rose up to his feet, the sealing mark on his body remained intact, though it seemed to have no affect on Keito's body. The black haired boy grinned viciously as he closed his fist.

**"Urashima Hijutsu: Asura no Ikari."** Keito said. "The strongest form in my fighting arsenal, the flames on my body consist of pure fire chakra, temperatures exceeding 1500 degrees."

Naruto felt the intense heat and covered his face. He couldn't believe that his body could release such temperatures He was like a miniature sun in the arena and he figured the shinobi could take the heat, but the civilians wouldn't be able to last even two minutes.

'Is he insane, he'll kill more people who are watching than killing me!'

**"To think that this boy was from the clan that held rage as a power source to ignite his flames. This is truly the definition of the god of wrath's power."** Kamina said. **"However, there is a risk to using this form."**

Naruto looked over to Keito and sense his chakra levels. 'He's opened five of the eight gates, but his chakra is supplied with fire chakra instead of regular chakra. He's going to burn his chakra system and become a human time bomb of fire!'

**"Naruto, you're going to use that move. That technique should be able to counter his form. HURRY NOW!"** Kamina roared out.

Naruto rushed toward the hot spot and gathered wind chakra round his body as a cooling coating. This technique would be the only option to stop him, 'I should have used Raiju Arc against him, but would like to keep that hidden rather than use. This technique WILL beat him. I just need to right time!'

Keito saw Naruto come close and he chuckled as he rushed toward the blonde, "YOU ARE STUPID TO COME THIS CLOSE TO ME! YOU MORON, YOU'LL BE INCINERATED THE FIRST CHANCE I GET TO HIT YOU!"

"THAT'S WHAT YOU THINK TEME, I'LL STOP YOU BEFORE EVERYONE BECOMES FRIED HUMAN FLAMBE!" Naruto roared out as he avoided the oncoming fist of a angry genin. He circled around, avoiding the heated punches. Naruto looked over in the corner of his eyes seeing people already passing out. Naruto grit his teeth as he moved at a fast pace in a spiraling motion until he reached the center. His fist had slowly begun to be enveloped by chakra and wind element alone.

'When cold and hot air intertwine and mix…they become a deadly force' Naruto ducked his head as he had rose his fist up punched Keito in the chin. 'And when the dragon descends to the ground it claims its prey and rises to the heavens with a mighty roar!'

**"HIRYUU HIJUTSU: HIRYUU SHOTEN HA!"** Naruto roared out, the air quickly pressurized as wind exploded from the blondes fist, creating a large tornado that was sending Keito higher into the sky as he was hit with tremedous force and was being torn upon the tornado's firm power. He rose higher and higher before the tornado slowly died down.

Keito, whose jutsu died down, had slowly begun descending, picking up speed. Within two minutes, he had reached the toward the ring and was about to hit the ground. He opened one single eye before it widened from shock to see Naruto in front of him with his arm arched back.

_'Kuso…this guy...' _The chakra powered punch slammed directly into the fire user's stomach. Keito coughed up blood as Naruto's fist twisted, digging into his stomach and sending him flying across the arena and crashing him to the wall, breaking the stone upon contact. 'Is good.' He finished his thought, losing consciousness as he plummeted to the ground, motionless.

Naruto panted as he held his arm, his eyes closed with relief and strain. 'Kuso…my muscles are torn up.' He thought.

**"Hold on gaki, I'll heal your wounds and arm. It'll take awhile though."** Kurama said as he started to pump his chakra into Naruto's chakra system.

_'Arigato, Kyuubi.' _Naruto opened his eyes to stare at the proctor who checked out Keito, standing up to raise his hand.

"Keito is no longer in any condition to fight, Shousha Uzumaki Naruto!" The proctor announced. The crowd that was finally relieved had cheered with enthusiasm and excitement for the fight.

Shinji stared upon the young Uzumaki with crimson eyes and smirked, "Interesting." He said to himself, finding hope that he will have an opponent that was worth fighting aside from keito. "You might be the perfect opponent to face."

Mei looked upon the fallen Urashima and frowned slightly. 'He used the technique I told him not to use, but to lose in that state is a shocking feat in itself.' She turned her eyes upon Naruto and smiled lustfully 'But…he is a perfect specimen and he has quite a bit of talent. I wonder how he will manage the final stand against Shinji.'

A frowned, 'That boy will be dangerous in the future.'

"Jiraiya what was that?" Tsunade asked "It was a jutsu like I have never seen before."

"That's because it's not a jutsu, or at least not fully." The sage stated. "That was a technique that Naruto himself learned from a taijutsu clan that died out some time ago, the Saotome clan that died out in the First Shinobi World War. It's a long story in how he knows it, but that technique was one of the Saotome's three strongest secret techniques."

"Strongest techniques?" the blonde woman asked, receiving a nod for the white haired man.

"Naruto hasn't mastered the taijutsu style, but that technique he told me, known as the **Hiryuu Hijutsu: Hiryuu Shoten Ha,** consists of using his chakra and using the air current to his advantage in which he is able to use his wind manipulation to alter the flow of the air currents in a spiraling motion, a trick he already is accustomed to due to his work with the **Rasengan**, and thus when he makes contact with his opponent it gives his attack a bit of extra force as the spiraling air currents vault the opponent into the air accompanied by a tornado of chakra and wind to form." Jiraiya stated. "While it should have done more damage, I think Naruto was trying to cool the flames on the boy's body down enough to be less damaging. He wouldn't have been able to control the tornado if it was too big."

_'A taijutsu of an extinct clan, a style possibly on par with Maito Gai's taijutsu. Simply amazing.' _Thought Tsunade, seeing the blonde walking away to go to be on his small recess before fighting the last fight.

XxXxXx

Once the medical nin had healed most of his wounds, Naruto stretched his body as he closed his eyes to relax on the bed. It wasn't until he heard the sound of crutches and footsteps that he turned his head to find Keito looking down at him. Naruto sighed as he turned away, closing his eyes.

"Can I help you?"

"You got strength, you are the only other person I have lost too, be proud of that" Keito said in a snarky tone.

"Oh yeah, well be glad all you're in is crutches and a cast. I would have crippled you completely if I wanted to. However, I was thinking of the welfare of the people in the stands." Naruto narrowed his eyes as he turned to glare at Keito, "Do you know the risk you almost put yourself and everyone else in?"

"Of course, though I needed to win, even if Mei-sama told me to not use that technique. Even if I combust, if I know I make it to the next round and win, then I will have no regrets." Keito frowned, "Sadly, I didn't make it to the final round now did I?"

Naruto paused as he looked over to the male, curiosity egging at him as he gave in a decided to speak. "Do you have some sort of vendetta against that Kaguya?"

Keito scoffed, "No, it's more of a rivalry. Shinji is my other teammate and as well as the only other Genin of our caliber to beat me." He said. "His attitude is calm, but when he fights it's like fighting a beast. He's unpredictable and is nothing like the other Kaguya I've heard about before their downfall."

"He's excellent with his bones I suspect, uses most parts of his body as a weapon or some sort of defense?" Naruto asked.

"Yeah, his variety of bone usage is unique too." Keito smirked "I'm giving you advice, don't underestimate him. He's more dangerous than I am when I'm not using that power amplifier. He can be sadistic and smart about where to hit."

Naruto shrugged, "I'm not worried, if he was anything like the Kaguya I've face before then I know should take precaution."

Keito froze, "Another Kaguya lives?"

"No, he died from his illness in battle while facing a friend of mine, a shinobi from Suna called Sabaku no Gaara." Naruto smirked, "The battle ended in a stalemate, but if that guy didn't have the disease...Gaara told me he would have died that day. Kimimaro was his name."

Keito grew pale at the hearing of the name, Naruto raised a brow and looked at the brunette curiously. "I take it you heard his name before?"

"Yeah, only once during the civil war. We stole a file that held a number of Kaguya in the clan who had died. When Mei-sama told Shinji that he had a brother before him when his mother died. His body was never found, but his mother kept crying out for his name even during her death."

_'Oh Shit' _Naruto though, "Don't tell me.."

"Kimimaro was Shinji's older brother of four years, Shinji and I were only two when the bloodline purge began." Keito sighed, "Shinji doesn't express himself often, but he was determined to find his brother once the civil war ended and that was a year ago."

'The same time Kimmimaro died.' Naruto narrowed his eyes, 'That is a coincidence.'

"So the advice, was that it?" The blonde asked,

"Yeah, there is nothing much I can really say " Keito turned as he walked off, "I would say good luck, but you might not need it." The brunette waved his hand in goodbye as he hobbled away from Naruto's view.

Kamina looked at Naruto, **"Tell me, you're not going to-"**

"Tell Shinji about his brother and exploit and exploit his anger and use that to my advantage?" Naruto smirked, "If necessary, yes I will."

**"I wasn't going to say that, I was more on the lines of going to say tell him after the match."** The blonde sweat dropped from that.

**"I say tell him while in the match, you always can't be honorable and play fair in your fights. You're a shinobi, morals will have to be cast away in order to accomplish something."** Kurama said. **"It is better this way for both sides; you win the exams overall; Shinji will learn of his brother's fate and come to accept being the last of his bloodline."**

Naruto went silent, closing his eyes in deep thought and frowned. It wasn't his nature to play dirty, but even he would have to one day. Being a shinobi meant to cheat through fights in order to be victorious and fight another day. He opened his eyes, which held a sense of calmness to them, at the same time had sympathy to them.

_'Alright.'_

XxXxXxX

The final competitors were standing in the center of the arena, the proctor already calling the match to begin. Naruto held his nodachi firmly by its sheath. Sapphire eyes zeroed in on his opponent, seeing the resemblance of the deceased Kaguya that ha had fought before; only that the boy in front of him had gray eyes and his hair was shorter and more wilder. Naruto couldn't think of anything else other than the fact that this boy would one day surpass Kimimaro if he had not exceeded his level of skill already.

The blonde jinchurriki quickly took notice upon the bone blade formed from the ulna prodding out of the boy's palm. Seeing it being pulled out gave a vivid flashback. Naruto himself proceeded to pull out the short sword out of the elegant sheath made of wood and fine leather. The blade itself was a dull color of black with the sharp gleam retaining it's steel like features as it shined magnificently.

Shinji had made the first move, his speed surpassing even the speed of Rock Lee. His blade of bone was made to aim at any vital points toward his opposing enemy.

Though, he wasn't the only one on the move as Naruto too rushed forward.

The two passed each other in a blur stopping in a split moment as they were now only three feet away from each other. Neither one had made a move until the sound of droplets hit the ground. Soon rain had begun to pour onto the ground. As the heavens released their precipitation, they were accompanied with small droplets of blood which came from both teenagers' arms. By instinct, the two had moved in synchronization, clashing weapon with weapon several times in which they bounced back off. It was like a wild dance had commenced once the flurry of blade strikes slammed into each other making small shockwaves that caused the water on their bodies to bounce off.

Shinji struck forth with a downward diagonal slash. The force of that one strike from Shinji's blade caused Naruto to skid back thus making an opportunity to summon several dozen clones to come at the Kaguya with a series of hand to hand blows. However, they proved to be useless against Shinji. The Kaguya survivor spun around them. Sharpened bones expelled from his rib cage, elbows, shoulders, forearms and knees as he began to dance around the clones, slashing them to shreds, or wisps of smoke in their case. In the end, the violent dance he had done resulted in the clones being torn apart and the clone army was decimated.

**"Karamatsu no Mai." **Shinji rose up from his kneeling position and stared at the blonde. The Kaguya gave sent an unblinking gaze at Naruto before raising his hands, his fingers all pointed directly at the blonde.

**"Teshi Sendan."** He said with a lazy tone as several drilling bones from his finger tips launched towards the jinchuriki.

Naruto frowned as his blade struck several of the oncoming bones that Shinji was firing continuously. Sparks flew forth from the high speed impacts of the steel hard bone against actual steel. Though Naruto was successfully avoiding the bone bullets some had actually managed to graze his body, cutting into his thigh, arm, and cheek. Channeling wind chakra into his blade he quickly spun around as if he were a top.

**"Uzumaki Ryu: Tatsumaki!"** A burst of wind circulated around the blonde, deflecting the bone bullets. The twister then moved forward, carving a small trench in the ground as Narto stopped spinning and made a horizontal slash. The wind circulation system slammed into the wall as Shinji avoiding the tornado before the young Kaguya launched himself at the Kyuubi jinchuriki. Naruto moved his nodachi in a horizontal motion, deflecting the many oncoming bones and reaching toward Shinji. The boy leaped over to his side, avoiding the attack and rushed toward Naruto as he raised his hand to his spine and pulled. With a series of sickening cracks and clacks, a whip formed from his spine was pulled out. He lashed out with his vertebrae composed whip which slammed into Naruto's blade, sending him back, but as the boy was slowly getting out of his reach, Shinji slung his whip around Naruto's ankle and pulled.

**"Tassenka no Mai: Tsuru to Sawara."** He released the whip once Naruto was close enough before twitching his wrists. A pair of sharpened bone swords erupted from the location of his radius. Both quickly shot out into his empty hand. Crossing both blades he aimed to make a cross slash.

_'This is the end for you, Uzumaki.'_

Naruto narrowed his eyes as the wind around his blade sharpened. He switched the position of his hold on his own blade, gripping it in a sideways position and swung it downward. **"Uzumaki Ryu: Kazegiri!" **

The two attacks clashed into each other before the bone blades began to chip and within moments the blades were cut through halfway as if they were buzz sawed. Leaping to avoid the attack that had now slammed into the ground, Shinji threw his now useless weapons away and smirked at the blonde.

'So he isn't half bad. Not even Keito had the ability to last this long with me.' He thought as he summoned forth two more bone blades. "Your **Futon** is strong to cut my bones. To face a bone as strong as steel should be a honour for you."

"Not in the slightest" Naruto said as he smirked, thunder rumbling in the sky. "Bone is just bone; you can cut it, break it, snap it, and crush it. Your bones are just more dense."

"Oh? I thought it would be an honour, seems I was wrong." He rushed toward Naruto, "Seems I'll just have to make a few cuts into your flesh to realize the true power of the Kaguya." Shinji said.

'Oh god he's a stuck up kekkai genkai genius. Seems I got to beat some sense into him. ' He thought as their blades clashed. A deadly dance of blades began as a shower of sparks mixed with the actual rain shower that fell from above. Shinji began trying to pierce and slash; while Naruto on the other hand was blocking and countering. Another cross slash from the Kaguya was blocked and the sound of humming and buzzing met his ears as Naruto's blade sliced through his own. Shinji watched as his blades broke from the sharpness of the wind chakra and the resonance of the lightning chakra. This time Shinji did not retreat, he did the most unthinkable as his chest plate had risen up from flesh and skin as a type of armour plating formed on his pectoral area. The blade went further skidding on the polished bone before it was captured by the clutches of Shinji's rib cage which protruded out from beneath his skin, following after the boy's breastplate.

Naruto's surprised look from his blade being captured had failed in allowing him to keep his bearing thus resulting in him being unable to sense the oncoming blow to the side of his face. A powerful right palm strike from Shinji rammed into the blonde's jaw. A crack then met Naruto's ears as a devastating left hook nailed him in the face. The fist had been encased by hardened bone of great density, the knuckles sharp and protruding out of the skin like a gauntlet. Said blow was strong enough to send Naruto back spiraling as he fell to the ground hard.

The blonde groaned in pain as blood ran down his jaw line. The knuckles had ripped through his skin and slightly tore into the flesh. Naruto panted as his face was slowly healing with Kurama's chakra stitching the torn flesh upon his face and with a stiff shifting of his lower jaw, Naruto snapped it back into place. Giving a few test movements, Naruto stood up, satisfied with his jaws realignment. Naruto felt the rain wash away the coppery tasting liquid away from his face which looked as if it was unharmed. The Konoha shinobi raised his eyes, this time he was successful in sensing the oncoming attack that was aiming at his downed body. Quickly he rolled to the side, avoiding a bone covered fist that hit the ground causing a small puncture in the earth.

Shinji raised his hand out as he had the blonde in his range. **"Keyaki!"** Soon bone launched out of Shinji's arm as the bone split into multiple pieces, attempting to pierce the blonde within its limit of range.

_'Now!' _Naruto's eyes quickly glowed a blue hue and seemed to release sparks of lightning as his chakra spiked.

**"Raiju Arc: Sonikku Hoden!"** Lightning collected within Naruto's jaws, sparks of voltage bleeding off of the concentrated sphere of electricity. With a roar, the sphere exploded and it erupted from Naruto's maw as he shot it out in the form of a powerful beam. The lightning barreled through the air toward it's destination.

The prodding bone spears acted like lightning rods and the lightning acting conducted along the length of Shinji's bones. It shot into the bones and into Shinji's body electrifying his system, causing the boy to roar out in pain as the lightning continued to surge into his body. With the amount of water on his body the lightning had seemed to intensify greatly, causing a highly intensified, shocking experience in his body's nervous system.

Naruto raised both arms, hold his hands firmly together as he dropped them down,** "Raiju Arc: Shotengeki!"** A powerful lightning bolt shot out of his hands, hitting Shinji directly into his main body. Whatever lightning was surrounding his body dissipated once the attack hit, though left some remaining sparks on his body as the young Kaguya flew many yards through the air.

The Kaguya bounced along the ground, cracking the ground slightly with every impact. When he finally came to a stop, he gasped for air as his body's autonomous functions were slightly paralyzed, his brain being to ignore any of Shinji's mental commands as shown by his body slightly spasming and losing all feeling. Shinji had felt his right arm was paralyzed and was out of commission. The footsteps of his opponent could be heard as Naruto began walking towards him. He lifted his head looking upon the blonde with heavy lids.

"That technique..what was-"

"That was my bloodline, Raiju Arc. It is an ancient bloodline that allows me to use complete use of the elements of storms like wind, lightning, and water. Sadly, I don't have water so wind and lightning. I'll just leave it like that, can't spoil the secrets" Naruto said with a dry chuckle. He then gave Shinji a sad look, "I didn't want to use it, but thinking of you personally I didn't want to take the risk of facing you when you are all out. You're dangerous, possibly more dangerous than the last Kaguya I fought; so I made this match as fast as I could make it. The rain was just a bonus to make this match faster."

Shinji froze when he hear the 'other' Kaguya, his eyes widened as his shifted his head up quickly. "Other Kaguya?" he asked with a shaky voice, "You met another Kaguya?"

"I did." He replied with a nod. "About a year ago. He was by far one of the strongest, most powerful people I have ever faced that wasn't anything higher than a jonin." Naruto looked up to the sky "A friend of mine was leaving the village and your brother was one of the people who was helping him escape the village to go his master."

"My brother...Kimimaro?!" Shinji exclaimed, only to suddenly cough violently, spewing out a glob of blood as he did so. "Wait...you mentioned a...Master." Shinji mumbled, confused.

"Orochimaru, one of the Sannin and former shinobi of Konohagakure. He wanted the power of an Uchiha, so taking one of the last Uchiha was your brother's mission. His battle against two strong opponents was a feat in of itself." He said.

"I don't care about feats or anything!" Shinji growled out. "I want to know right now; is he alright? Is. He. Alive?" He asked straight to the point.

Naruto lowered his eyes as he closed his eyes, "I'm sorry, but when fighting a friend of mine the disease that had coursed through his body had pushed him to the limit. It was supposedly through his own will power that he managed to live through all the large amounts of attacks that had tried to kill him." Naruto stated. "Sadly, that will power wasn't enough to keep him going forever. His death was foreshadowed."

Shinji froze, time slowing down as if it was a out of place and non-existent. Hearing the words come out of the blonde's mouth, his head snapped up to glare at Naruto. Time returned, his mind holding an fury like no other; blood boiling as his paralyzed arm twitched. Lightning chakra coursed through the brother of Kimimaro and suddenly, all bodily functions returned to him. A spark of lightning was all that left of Shinji as he took off from his downed position. In a blur, Shinji moved his entire body and pushed his fist into Naruto's stomach and roared in anger. His other hand raised as it rammed into the blonde's skull with enough force that Naruto felt as if his brain was flying around his skull.

Shinji roared as his rage overpowered his mind, but the skill at which fought with was still prominent as he lashed out with a various amount of taijutsu moves.

Shinji lashed out with a cross to the left cheek. Naruto's jaw creaked from the force before Shinji spread his arms wide and slammed his palms against the side of Elfman's head, sending a sound wave through his ear canals and discombobulating him."Worthless!" Now in a dazed state, Naruto aimed a wild haymaker at the red eyed bone user, but the Kiri shinobi employed an elbow block before striking a swift shot to the abdominal area. Blood and spittle flew forth from Naruto's mouth, but he tried to strike once more with a left hook shot. Kaguya parried it aside with his right hand before twisting slightly and slamming a strong elbow strike to the right jaw and thus weakened it, a crack being heard by all as the entire stadium was in silence at how easily Kaguya was making a comeback.

PUNCH!"HE WAS ALL I HAD LEFT!" Another strong punch fractured the weakened lower jaw with another crack.

KICK!"MY BROTHER WAS ALL I HAD LEFT AND YOU TOOK HIM FROM ME! I WILL NOW SHOW YOU THE PAIN I HAVE FELT, UZUMAKI NARUTO! THE PAIN I FELT FROM BEING ALONE ALL THESE YEARS! FEEL MY PAIN!" A strong punch to the ribs broke his already cracked ribs with numerous snapping sounds meeting the bone user's ears and Naruto had released a gasp of pain. A follow up punch traumatized his solar plexus before a final hook punch completely dislocated Naruto's jaw with a snap so loud it made crunching leaves sound like a pin dropping on the ground. Finally, Shinji employed a powerful heel kick to the diaphragm, or as others affectionately called it, a Spartan Kick, and Naruto was sent sprawling on the ground.

The blonde grunted in effort as he back to his feet, shifting his broken jaw back into place so Kurama could heal it quicker. He shook his head rapidly as he aimed to get the ringing out of his ears when Shinji discombobulated him, but due to remaining in his dazed state he was not able to block Shinji's assault.

"You!" Shinji growled out his bone encased fist rammed into Naruto's stomach once more and quickly forced the blonde into the air. "How dare you take my only family away. YOU TRASH!" He roared as he leaped into the air and soared higher than Naruto's heavy body and slammed a lightning covered axe kick down into the blonde ribs. His opponent was coming down to hit the ground, but Shinji wasn't going to allow that as his lightning covered body fazed out of existence in the air and appeared below Naruto's back, dust blowing off the ground he now appeared on.

"I'll take you away…I'll end your existence!" Bones of large proportion shot out of his body like sharp impaling spikes.** "Azami!"** He roared out as the blades came to a halt ready to pierce the falling blonde.

Naruto turned his head to look at the spikes, **"Kaze Shunshin no Jutsu!"** His body enveloped in blue chakra, Naruto seemed to dissolve into the wind, disappearing from his position in the air and appeared in a burst of dust in front of Shinji with a lightning charged fist formed with blue lightning.

**"Raiton: Raiken!"** He shouted as the lightning fist rammed into the pale haired boy's face.

Shinji skidded back staring at Naruto with anger as his bones returned to his skin. His fists encased with bone, but sharp ridged bones surrounded his chest, back, shoulders, and forearms. The Kaguya rushed at Naruto, ramming a sharp bone knuckled fist into the blonde's jaw and in return got a fist of lightning right into his temple. The bone user staggered, but did not give in to the blow completely as he sent another blow into the teen's stomach, the bones protruding in his forearm slightly puncturing the boys flesh. With the blonde wounded, he had another punch on Naruto's cheek bone.

Naruto growled as his muscled tightened around his abdominal area, his eyes flashed a ice blue in anger, head butting the Kaguya in the face following with another set of blows into the face. 'I'm not done! I'm not done yet' He thought as he shot a series of fast paced, lightning infused punches into the chest of the Kaguya, decimating the bone defense that was protruding out.

The two sent repetitive blows into each other as they kept sending their fists into the others face or body. It wasn't until that when fists were no longer doing anything that they became aggravated. Charging at the other, Naruto and Shinji both roared at the same time as both skull bashed each other in the skull. Naruto felt the impact hit his head pretty heavily as he felt as if he had gotten a concussion from that head bash. Blood trickled down his forehead, a mixture of his own and Shinji's bored down their face until they separated.

Staggering Naruto clapped his hands together before his left hand had begun to glow a white color. "THIS WILL END NOW!" He rushed out towards the pale haired shinobi with glowing eyes.

**'This Jutsu...!'** Kamina thought.

The Kaguya gritted his teeth as he hardened the bones in his chest into bone plating and hardened those in his left hand into a dense gauntlet of bone. "YOU WILL FALL UZUMAKI!" he roared following in pursuit as he began to run as well.

The two tacked dust behind them before they came to a halt and their attacks clashed.

**"TENTON: TENGOKU TENOHIRA!"**

**"BARA NO MAI: TSUBOMI!"**

The two attacks had caused a great shockwave as light and chakra were flying around the place. Naruto's open palm was holding its own against the heavy bone fist of Shinji's bloodline. Both the light and chakra were staggering and waving around furiously as they crashed into the ground and the rocks around the area. The two contenders gritted their teeth as they pushed their all into their attacks.

_'This battle is-'_

CRACK!

Shinji's ears perked up as he rose his head and quickly looked at his bone fist and was coming to be shocked as his layered bone first was cracking and shattering within seconds. Then the sound of swirling picked up in his ear a brief second later as he turned his attention toward the blonde which had chakra spiraling around him and the light. The chakra coming into his free hand into a spherical shape before it glowed into a blue hue.

_'What!?' _The fist coming to his chest plate _'NO!'_

**"RASENGAN!"** Cried out Naruto as the spiraling chakra sphere spun at Shinji's body plating. Quickly the plating broke and the sphere pushed further as it slammed into Shinji who was screaming in pain to the other side, smashing his body into a tree.

Naruto panted as he felt his head throb from the swelling that was slowly being healed by Kurama. His instinctual attack left him using too much chakra at once, seemed that he still needed to master it still; just like all of his other techniques aside from his Kage Bunshin. He stared at the fallen Kaguya who laid silently on the ground now. The proctor jumped down to check the down boy that represented Kiri. When the man stood up he raised his hand up.

"SHOUSA!" pointing his hand toward Naruto "UZUMAKI NARUTO!"

For Naruto that would have been bliss in his ear, no it would have made him just excited and gleeful enough for him to just run around the Elemental Nations twice over. Though he did the one thing he had wanted to do during his last match even after being healed.

He passed out, but with a smile on his face, the cheering of the crowd seeming like white noise as blackness encompassed his vision.

**Chapter End**

_**Translations:**_

_**Henge no Jutsu- Henge no Jutsu**_

_**Uzumaki Naruto Nisen Rendan- Naruto Uzumaki 2000 Hit Barrage**_

_**Katon: Goken- Fire Release: Iron Fist**_

_**Katon: Goukakyu no Jutsu- Fire Release: Grand Fireball Technique**_

_**Katon: Gouka Mekkyaku- Fire Release: Great Fire Annihilation**_

_**Katon: Gouryuuka no Jutsu- Fire Release: Grand Dragon Fire Technique**_

_**Urashima Ryu: Asura no Enken- Urashima Style: Flaming Fist of the Six Armed Demon God**_

_**Fuuin- Seal**_

_**Urashima Hijutsu: Asura no Ikari- Urashima Secret Technique: Wrath of the Six Armed Demon God**_

_**Hiryuu Hijutsu: Hiryuu Shoten Ha- Flying Dragon Secret Technique: Flying Dragon's Heavenly Vaccuum Wave**_

_**Rasengan- Spiraling Chakra Sphere**_

_**Karamatsu no Mai- Dance of the Larch**_

_**Teshi Sendan- Ten-Finger Drilling Bullets**_

_**Uzumaki Ryu: Tatsumaki- Uzumaki Style: Tornado/Twister/Vortex**_

_**Tassenka no Mai: Tsuru no Sawara- Dance of the Clematis: Vine and Thorn**_

_**Uzumkai Ryu: Kazegiri- Uzumaki Style: Wind Cutter**_

_**Fuuton- Wind Release**_

_**Keyaki- Zelkova**_

_**Raiju Arc: Sonniku Hoden- Raiju Arc: Sonic Shock**_

_**Raiju Arc: Shotengeki- Raiju Arc: Shockwave**_

_**Azami- Thistle**_

_**Kaze Shunshin no Jutsu- Wind Body Flicker Technqiue**_

_**Raiton: Raiken- Lightning Release: Lightning Fist**_

_**Tenton: Tengoku Tenohira- Heaven Release: Heaven Palm**_

_**Bara no Mai: Tsubomi- Rose Dance: Bud**_

**Dang this chapter turned out well in my mind, I wanted to make a longer fight with Shinji, but I didn't feel it was necessary since I almost forgot the fact I made this OC to be Kimimaro's brother, so I wanted to make a small dramatic chat, which of course would have made an emotional impact on Shinji, who wanted to find his brother as stated by Keito. **

**For the new technique, I was going to name it Gale release, but that was already taken. So I made a release known as Tenton; otherwise known as Heaven Release: A collaboration or sub-element like Mokuton that is mixed of two elements. These two elements for Tenton would be lightning and wind. It will be explained possibly next chapter by Kitsune once I give him the details of it. I was thinking Imperial Release, but I didn't want it to make it sound so badass for you guys lol. **

**So I will be working on Jinchurriki of Apocalypse tonight, so hopefully expect that on hopefully Monday or Tuesday. **

**One more thing, if I don't upload the chapter on those days, it is because my family and I are moving, so my internet may be cut off and the only other source of internet is school. So I will uploaded on the times I am at school or until I pay for the internet when we get settled down at my home. Though I could just surprise you guys with two or three chapters when I come back with internet, but I don't want to ruin it for you guys.**

**That's all I wanted to say, so if Kitsune wants to say anything he'll post something up.**

_**Kitsunedragon's note: Well guys, hope you enjoyed this chapter. Gotta admit, I can see the amount of effort D.D put into this chapter. Now as done with his chapters, I guess it'll be my turn to make a chapter. However, I will be slow on that as I'm currently working on my own story, Dragonslayer. Also, I'm trying some animes my friends recommended I watch so I'm currently watching them, so again, I'll be having a slow update rate for those of you who read my stories alongside . Hope you enjoyed this chapter and remember to review it! Your opinions matter, just don't flame. Only Gojira can make those.**_

**This is Divine Dragon and KitsuneDragon signing out.**


	8. Chapter 8

_**I do NOT own Naruto or any of the Toho monsters, they belong to Kishimoto and Toho company.**_

_**Hello, once more my good people. Kitsunedragon here with your newest chapter on Cry of the Raiju. To those of you who were waiting exceptionally long for this chapter, my deepest apologies. I have been extremely busy with exams and so I rarely have time to be able to write, but now I am free from the grasp of the educational system and I am capable of writing once more.**_

_**First, a big thank you though to all the readers who offered CONSTRUCTIVE criticism and positive reviews towards the chapter that D.D did, well actually he goes by kotei no seiryuu now. It will be very hard to do so, but I will try to do what I can in order to match the kind of quality he had done to create such a magnificent end to the Chunin Exams.**_

_**Now on with the chapter.**_

**Chapter 8: Side-Quests**

_"Nobility and Commoner? Bitch please, nobody's got time for such stupid comparisons. Class segregation is for societies that need help trying to make themselves feel better about themselves when in the presence of others. Truth be told, they're all the same. Just scared, little people who want to give worth to their existences."-Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto._

Drip.

Drip.

Drip.

The sounds of the dripping water droplets were echoing throughout the recesses of the sewer-like complex, the small and insignificant molecules of fluid somehow managing to make their effect appear deafening as they collided with the water beneath. However, that deafening effect proved fruitful as with a start and a gasp of air, the tanned, blonde shinobi of Konoha rose up into a sitting position, acting as if he had just been pricked in the ass by a very sharp needle.

He shook his head, ridding it of the water that soaked its back before climbing to his feet. He looked around and quickly realized he lay within his mindscape. The yellow-gray area had its floors still soaked with a low level of water, the blue and red pipes that represented his chakra and Kurama's chakra flowed around each other like a double helix, some areas of the helix branching off down other hallways to reach other areas. His ears twitched as he caught the sound of Kurama's heavy breathing and followed it.

Walking down the maze of hallways, he finally rounded a corner and came to a stop in the centre of a large spacious area where the cage of Kurama lay before him. Its black, iron bars held closed by the small tag that read 'Seal'. When his footsteps came to an end, the darkness of the cage gained a red hue as the chakra of Kurama sprung to life and the fox's crimson iris made itself known. The vertical slit seemed like an endless void within the bisected circle of red and Naruto had never noticed it before, but the Kyuubi no Yoko's eyes was very mesmerizing. His head tilted slightly as he was drawn deeper into the abyss.

**"NARUTO!" **

"HUH?!" Naruto's head snapped back into its righted position and looked around before realizing it was Kurama himself that had called his name. "What?"

**"Boy, you have been laying unconscious within here for quite a while now and as soon as you arrive in here you look to appear as if you were in a comatose. Did the Kaguya brat hit you that hard or are you just that scatterbrained?" **The mighty beast asked. Naruto's sapphire orbs narrowed.

"Well, if I am scatterbrained it is because I learned from the best." He gave a smirk accompanied by a gesture to the gargantuan canine. Kurama snarled and slammed his claws at the cage, sparks flying forth in a storm of orange from the friction.

**"You are rather smart mouthed, aren't you brat? Well I would like so very much to verbally destroy your mind...but I'd rather do this instead." **A pulse of crimson rocketed out from beneath the cage, careening through the waters and flowed throughout the halls of the blonde Namikaze's mindscape and suddenly the mental apparition of Naruto's consciousness fell to his knees and clutched his skull in pain.

"Agh, kuso! Kurama that hurt!" Another pulse followed afterwards. "Kyuubi, my bad." He corrected.

**"Your battle was indeed quite a spectacle and my respect for you has grown. As a shinobi that is. But you are still not worthy in my eyes to be able to use my true name, if it were not for the Raiju you would have never have learned it. However, you do, but again...do not speak it unless you are granted the ability to do so. You may be able to do it when you wish, but if you do so, you are aware of the migraines and headaches I am capable of causing. Plus, I am still capable of overshadowing your consciousness should you succumb to your negative emotions...that is if Kamina doesn't involve himself." **

Naruto remained quiet throughout the nine tailed fox's speech, but then perked up upon the mention of his electrical beast of a sensei. "Speaking of which, where is Kamina-sensei?"

**"Somewhere in the hallways of your mind. You are rather empty headed, something he should have realized long ago." **Kurama chuckled at Naruto's annoyed face. **"However, now that we have said his name, he should arrive...now." **

A flash of light and an echo akin to that of thunder resounded throughout the mindscape and Naruto and Kurama were forced to shield their eyes, lest their retinas be burned into ash. When the light died down, the white and blue wolf-like creature stood before Naruto and Kurama in all his glory. The ice blue eyes of the thunder beast gained a cold look as they seemed to crackle with the power of the storms.

"Kamina-sensei!" Naruto grinned. "So, what did you think? I won and I totally kicked Kaguya Shinji's ass, granted that I did take a good beating myself, but still...I am such a badass." Naruto's cheeky grin remained until he noticed the cold look of the Raiju's eyes had remained firm. "Kamina-sensei?"

**"Naruto, I blessed you with the powers you can currently use. I blessed you with Raiju Arc and helped you forge your skills to become as strong as you possibly can and you still haven't as your potential is near limitless and thus you can continuously grow stronger and stronger. However, even though you bear the Kyuubi no Yoko, even though you contain I, Kamina the Raiju, and even though you bear the blood of the Uzumaki...YOU DARE TO DO SUCH A RECKLESS ACT!" **Kamina roared, lightning sparking off of his body in rage. The quadruped's body heaved with deep breaths, an act of restrained anger.

"Wh-Wh-What?" Naruto stepped back in disbelief as he watched Kamina. The wolf-like creature took a single step towards his charge and the blonde immediately caved beneath the pressure of power the beast exerted, falling to his knees.

"Kamina-sensei, what the hell are you talking about?!" Kamina raised a non-existent eyebrow at Naruto before looking down at Naruto's hands. The hands that fused wind and lightning to create the element of the heavens, Tenton.

**"Naruto, when I began to teach you on how to utilize Raiju Arc, I gave you certain guidelines in order to aid you, and you listened. However, you seem to have forgotten that I had actually laid a taboo on you. Did I not tell you beforehand that wind and lightning are the most unpredictable elements, that they are not to be fused without utmost caution. Yet, here you lay on your knees before me, asking me what the hell you did?! WHAT YOU DID WAS THAT YOU NEARLY LOST THE ABILITY TO LOSE YOUR ARM! YOU FUSED WIND AND LIGHTNING CHAKRAS AND MADE TENTON AND IT IS ONLY BY THE SHEER LUCK OF THE UZUMAKI THAT YOU ARE STILL CAPABLE OF MOVING THAT LIMB!" **

"What?! But how?!"

**"Listen to us brat." **Kurama started. **"The clash of such volatile elements within your chakra network nearly caused that specific area of your chakra network to be torn asunder, same as your arm muscles. If it weren't for the fact that you possess two sources of healing factors, myself and your natural Uzumaki bloodline, you'd be unable to use that arm and your career as a shinobi would have either been hindered or completely over."**

Naruto could only gape in shock as stared at his hands and then back at his two senseis. The demon and divine beast stared back at him, waiting to see if he had a response. Grunts of sound escaped Naruto's throat, but whatever words he could possibly say stopped and formed a lump in his throat.

"How long did it take to heal?"

**"You've been out for nearly a day, but due to how much of my chakra I used to heal your arm it took only an hour to repair your damaged arm tissue, but the chakra network itself was delicate and so it took another five hours to repair that." **Kurama replied.

"Kamina-sensei...I..."

**"Now that you are aware of the consequences, I can see that you are truly sorry for your actions. But, in actuality, I cannot truly blame you for performing such an action as it seems you performed the Tenton jutsu out of pure instinct. Creating a new jutsu style out of thin air is a rather amazing feat and while I dislike your usage of it and the fact that I saw it as mere abuse of your Raiju Arc elements, I will admit that the Tenton jutsus are rather powerful and given the time, you could be able to master the use with minimal drawbacks and live with one of the most powerful technique types the Elemental Nations will ever feast their eyes upon." **Kamina said.

"What are you saying?" Naruto asked with a raised eyebrow. First, the thunder beast was angry and disappointed and now he was praising him?! The heir of the Uzumaki and Namikaze could only wonder just what went on within the divine being's head.

**"What I'm saying, my student...is that though I am rather disappointed in your judgement to disobey my warnings, now that I have seen the effects of what your little experiment was I can say that maybe learning to master Tenton would be a rather beneficial venture. I will help you to learn how to properly merge your elements and create techniques utilizing the Tenton jutsus. After all, what kind of teacher would I be if I didn't allow for my student to use what he has to the best of his abilities." **

"Really?! You're going to help me now?!" Naruto exclaimed in disbelief. Kamina nodded.

**"Yes, I will."**

**"I am actually against this. It's a waste of chakra to continuously heal this boy's body. It took hours just to repair his arm to its full potential, if he were to continue practicing this it could end his life and by extension, my own. You are mad, Raiju." **Kurama said.

**"Do not fret, Kurama. The reason for Naruto's extensive injury was because he overloaded his body with chakra thus causing it to burst and tear in the places that needed healing. Now that he is aware of the consequences, he just needs to re-learn the basic principles that all shinobi use. Chakra control." **Kamina smiled as he heard Naruto groan. The blonde planted his face into his hands.

"Ugh, I hate chakra control. It's so difficult, especially now that I know the reason is because of the large amount that I have."

**"If you wish to be able to use Tenton, I would like you to be able to do so without hurting yourself to such a large degree such as the aftermath of your battle with the Kaguya boy."** The Raiju replied. **"Speaking of which, congratulations on your victory." **

"Arigatou, sensei." Naruto grinned cheekily. Kamina nodded with a smile on his canine face. "By the way, Kamina-sensei, Kyuubi?" The two beasts looked at the human before them, non-existent eyebrows raised. "How long have I been out?"

**However, you have been out for nearly two days due to chakra exhaustion, physical exhaustion and your injuries. You should be properly healed by now, so I think it's best you wake up now." **Kurama said. **"Now leave my presence brat, I wish to sleep." **A deafening roar followed by a flash of red light and Naruto felt as if he had been thrust through the air like a shuriken.

**Kirigakure no Sato- Chunin Exam Medical Bay **

Naruto woke up with a start like he done so earlier in his mindscape. He looked up at the white ceiling and the familiar smell of morphine assaulted his nostrils. He groaned as he rose up from his bed and looked at the heart rate monitor and blood pressure monitors at his side. He ripped out the cords attached to his body, causing the screens beeping to cease as they flat lined and cracked his tense joints.

His neck, back and other joints released audible pops, snaps and cracks as he finished stretching before he twisted and planted his feet on the ground. He removed himself from his bed and only then did he realize that he was entirely coated in bandages. Well, almost entirely. His face, minus the cheek bandage, and his right arm seemed quite fine. He was also missing a major amount of clothing, his dark blue boxers being his only article left. He quickly off his bandages and looked around the hospital room.

'Guess everywhere you go, the hospital is always white. Damn that morphine is strong.' Naruto thought as he nearly lost his balance due to the numb feeling that morphine brought with it was still within his body. His ears twitched as he heard the sound of footsteps approaching his location. Turning his head, he looked to see the two Sannin and one Sannin's assistant approach him.

"Oh, you're awake Naruto-kun. It's good to see you're still lively as ever, even after taking such a beating from Kaguya-san." Shizune greeted him happily, giving him a gentle hug in case he was still in any pain.

"Nice to see you too, Shizune nee-chan. ITAI!" His happy face shifted into that of pain as the powerful fist of the Slug Sannin crashed against his skull. "Agh, Baa-chan what the hell was that for?!"

"That was for signing up for the Chunin Exams without my notification."

"What?! But that's ero-kyofu's fault! ITAI!" Another punch floored the rising jinchuriki.

"That was for putting yourself in a near death situation and having me worried sick, gaki!" Tsunade growled as she watched Naruto holding the smoking bump on his cranium. He was then picked up by his hair and roughly brought to his feet before the fierce brown eyes of Senju Tsunade met his own sapphire ones.

"AND THIS..." Naruto flinched out of reflex only for his eyes to widen as he felt Tsunade's lips press against his forehead. Naruto blinked in confusion as he suddenly felt a bit of nostalgia as this particular act made him remember the scene from when Tsunade had chosen to come back to the village with them to be Hokage. The older blonde smiled at her little brother figure as she pulled away from him.

"That was for a job well done. Congratulations on winning the Chunin Exams, Naruto." Naruto blushed lightly at the praise before his hair was ruffled harshly by Jiraya.

"Way to go brat! You did your old godfather proud!" Naruto grinned like a fox as his godfather continued to ruffle his hair. He was then hit in the face by an unexpected wall of cloth. Naruto quickly tore the cloth off his face to find that it was a new set of clothes. "Now put on some clothes and let's go to the Mizukage. Mei-chan is expecting us."

"Mei-chan?" Tsunade raised an eyebrow at the white haired man.

"Yeah, she's a rather friendly little thing. Don't worry though hime, you still have bigger breasts than her." Jiraya chuckled only to be sent halfway through the wall from Tsunade's punch. "Oh the pain. The pain hurts so much." Jiraya squeaked out weakly.

"Well, while your perverted sensei tries to crawl out of the wall, Shizune, just run a last minute diagnostic check on Naruto." Shizune nodded to her mentor and her hands immediately became coated with the soft green glow of healing chakra. She quickly ran it over the young teenager's body before giving a nod of satisfaction.

"Looks like you're all better Naruto-kun."

"Good to hear, nee-chan." Naruto then stepped towards his bed and drew the curtains so no one would see his birthday suit as he was going to change into his new clothes. "So anyway, Baa-chan?" Naruto called out from behind the curtain.

"Hmm?"

"Why does the Mizukage want to see me?"

"You'll see when we get there." Tsunade replied.

"Awww, Baa-chan, you're no fun." The son of the Yondaime Hokage pouted. A gasp suddenly pierced the air as Jiraya finally managed to escape through his prison of concrete and plaster.

"Damn hime. That one nearly made by skull cave in."

"Nearly? Should I try again?" She threatened him jokingly, but the white haired Sannin quickly ducked behind the curtain where Naruto was changing.

"What the...ero-kyofu move your perverted ass out of here!" Jiraya was quickly punted out from behind the curtain before a fully dressed Naruto followed behind him. Shizune looked at her little brother figure and nodded approvingly.

"See, Tsunade-shishou. I told you he would look good in these clothes." Tsunade looked at her assistant before turning to Naruto.

The spiky haired blonde was dressed in a long sleeved, dark blue shirt which was worn over a chain mesh shirt for protection against weaponry that would pierce the shirt had the Uzumaki spiral proudly emblazoned on the back. A pair of black pants ended at his ankles and a pair of black shinobi sandals adorned his feet.

A scroll was tossed at him from Jiraya and Naruto quickly opened it to reveal his weapons pouch, his sheathed tanto and his hitai-ate. He quickly attached the pouch to his right hip, attached his tanto to his back using the built in strap attached to the sheath and wrapped his hitai-ate around his forehead. Making sure the knot of the hitai-ate was tight enough, he quickly formed a kagebunshin and looked at his clone.

"Damn boss, we look good." Naruto grinned and gave his clone a high five.

Badasses for life." The clone nodded before dispelling itself.

"Alright, now that your little vanity episode is over, come on. The Mizukage is expecting us." Naruto nodded to his Hokage before he raised his hands in the 'ram' sign.

**"Kaze Shunshin no Jutsu!" **He vanished in a swirl of leaves and wind. Tsunade, Jiraya and Shizune performed their own shunshin and followed after the blonde at chakra enhanced speeds.

**Kirigakure no Sato- Mizukage Tower- Mizukage's Office**

Terumi Mei, the beautiful auburn haired Godaime Mizukage of Kirigakure no Sato sighed as she stared at her desk.

"If I had known becoming the Mizukage left this much paperwork for me, I'd have never led the damn rebellion in the first place." She sighed.

"With great power comes great responsibility, Mizukage-sama." Ao told his superior. The head of the Kirigakure ANBU looked at the smiling face of his leader before sweatdropping as he realized she would tell him to...

"Ao, shut up...or I'll kill you."

And there it is.

Ao sighed.

'What is it that I do that she keeps saying she's going to kill me?' The blue haired man thought. However, his face quickly shifted into a serious expression and he quickly jumped in front of his leader, the hidden ANBU in the room also appearing out of the shadows of the large room before four plumes of smoke appeared.

The smoke cleared to reveal the four Konoha shinobi and the ANBU quickly aimed to strike them down, but Mei simply raised her hand and they halted in their motions.

"Mizukage-sama?" They questioned.

"It's alright boys. Tsunade-dono, her assistant and Jiraya-san are guests. Naruto-san, congratulations on winning the Chunin Exams by the way. Excuse my guards for the trouble."

"It is no trouble, Mizukage-sama." Naruto replied with a formal tone of voice and a small nod of his head. The ANBU gave one last wary look at the four Konoha members before reverting into mist and melting back into whatever shadows they were hiding in. Ao returned to Mei's side and the leader of Kirigakure continued to give that warm smile towards the blonde.

"Shall I commence this operation then, Tsunade-dono?"

"You may, Mei-dono."

The two busty women nodded to one another before the two Sannin and Shizune stepped off to the side, leaving Naruto alone beneath the gaze of the green eyed Mizukage.

"Uzumaki Naruto of Konohagakure no Sato." Mei spoke with a tone of authority. Naruto did not expect such a tone from the seemingly kind hearted kage, but he immediately stood straighter than he had done before as his name was called upon.

"Hai, Mizukage-sama."

"During the Chunin Exams you showed tremendous trickery as you lied about coming into these examinations with a team, but instead ventured out with two Kage Bunshins under the guise of a Henge no Jutsu. While this does lead to mistrust, you have not shown any ill will towards my nation and Jiraya-san and Tsunade-dono have vouched for your pardon and so you are spared from any sort of punishment that I would have thrust upon you. However, know that even if I had suspicion towards you, I would not have killed you."

"Why not, Mizukage-sama?"

"Because, you were interesting. And I was right to let you go as you have shown to be able to be quite a remarkable competitor. You have shown amazing prowess in nearly all of the styles and techniques that a shinobi knows. Ninjutsu, Taijutsu, Kenjutsu and even Fuuinjutsu. The level at which you performed these skills is exemplary and to be able to tame the mighty beast, the Kaiju of Kiri, Gojira, is an even greater feat in itself."

"You flatter me, Mizukage-sama." Naruto bowed. Mei giggled at the boy's formality before gesturing to her fellow kage. Tsunade then stepped forth to stand next to the busty Mizukage. The brown eyed woman gazed at the spiky haired blonde with pride and happiness, her face hiding it with a mask of seriousness, but Naruto saw her eyes had betrayed her and conveyed her true emotions to him. Naruto gave a smirk towards his 'Baa-chan.'

"You are worthy of the praise this day, Uzumaki Naruto. And so, it is with great pleasure that I and Tsunade-dono officially grant you the rank of Chunin. Congratulations, Uzumaki Naruto. May you wear the vest of Konoha with pride." Tsunade reached into her red and white Hokage robes that she wore for the formal occasion that was the Chunin Exams and pulled out a single scroll. Unfurling it, she pumped a small amount of chakra into the seal formula and in a plume of smoke, the granddaughter of Senju Hashirama held a single green Chunin vest. She tossed the vest at Naruto and the blonde immediately caught it, staring at the article of clothing with shock.

His cerulean orbs were wide with shock, his jaw agape and his hands were trembling slightly.

"A-A-Are you s-serious?" He stuttered.

"Congratulation, CHUNIN, Uzumaki Naruto." Tsunade smiled. Naruto felt tears rise up and his vision became blurry and he tried to hold them back. He quickly wiped them away before laughing and he walked towards Tsunade.

"Screw the formal setting." Naruto muttered before rushing forth and wrapping Tsunade in a hug. "Thank you so much, Baa-chan!"

"What the...Naruto! Not here, we're in public! NARUTO!" Tsunade tried to pry the blonde shinobi off of her and blushed heavily in embarrassment as she aimed to remove the newly formed Chunin from her body. Mei chuckled at the sight, Jiraya and Shizune grinned but were not to afraid to actually laugh at Tsunade's expression. Ao remained stoic and merely turned away from the young genin's...no, correction, the young chunin's, exciting moment.

Naruto pulled back and released Tsunade from his grip before putting on the vest and bowing to Tsunade.

"I won't let you down, Baa-ch...I mean, ahem, Hokage-sama." Tsunade chuckled at her fellow blonde before ruffling his hair.

"I know you won't, brat. Now you better go now, you still have training to do and I have to get back to Konoha." Naruto nodded. Tsunade then turned to Jiraya with a serious look on his face. Shizune was smiling as she and Naruto walked off to the side, Naruto making exaggerated hand motions and sound effects as he explained his epicness and excitement at becoming a Chunin.

"If you could excuse myself and Jiraya-san for a few minutes, Mizukage-dono?"

"Of course, Hokage-dono." Tsunade nodded in thanks to her fellow kage before heading out of the entrance to the office. The door closed behind them and Tsunade quickly faced Jiraya with a serious expression on her face, her chocolate brown eyes staring into Jiraya's black ones.

"He called you kyofu. He knows you are his godfather meaning you told him." Jiraya nodded in confirmation as Tsunade whispered to him in a tone so soft it would seem it would take a dog's ears to be able to pick up on what she was saying.

"How much does he know?" Tsunade asked with a sigh.

"Everything. When I took him to Uzu no Kuni, he found the remainder of Uzumaki scrolls. He got really pissed and nearly tried to kill me, but when he calmed down, I told him of his mother. I told him how Kushina used to be the second jinchuriki of the Kyuubi, I explained the relation to you and your clan, the Senju, so you don't need to hide that familial relation you have with him anymore since you are cousins now after all." He chuckled. Tsunade released a laugh of her own before turning to the door where Naruto lay on the other side.

"And his father?"

"He actually figured that out on his own. He had his suspicions, but when I told him about Kushina's relations and whatnot, plus he mentioned that the Yondaime was the only one who bore any physical resemblance to him, it clicked and he confirmed that Minato was his father."

"Well, that's good to know. The brat's gone through enough of not knowing who his family was and I'm sure it's gotten rid of most of his mental demons."

"They'd be proud of him." Jiraya said with a smile.

"Yeah. His father's looks, his mother's personality and both their Will of Fire." Tsunade said. With that, the conversation ended and Tsunade opened the door and told Shizune it was time to go. Shizune nodded and she and Tsunade gave a bow of respect to the Godaime Mizukage before vanishing in a shunshin.

"Thank you for those words of praise, Mizukage-sama. Jiraya-sensei and I shall be on our way then." Naruto said with a bow.

"Thank you for having us." Jiraya said with a matching bow.

Mei nodded in response. "You are welcome, Jiraya-san, Naruto-kun. Visit when you can, Naruto-kun. Our resident Kaiju may like to see you from time to time."

"I will do what I can."

And with that, Jiraya and Naruto left in a swirl of wind and leaves. Mei sighed as she stared at the spot that the two males had occupied, "Such a nice boy. Ao?"

"Yes, Mizukage-sama?"

"Did this pile of paper work somehow get larger?"

"Eh?"

**Mizu no Kuni-Boating Docks of Kiri**

The wind gently blew through the air, the salty smell of it making Naruto twitch his nose.

"Alright gaki. We're the boat's loading up, come on."

"Coming ero-kyofu!"

"STOP YELLING THAT OUT SO LOUDLY!"

Naruto grunted in pain as he clutched his shoulder that Jiraya punched ever so hard. "Hypocritical pervert." He muttered beneath his breath. Adjusting his travel pack that Jiraya had originally sealed into a scroll for him during the Chunin Exams, he followed the white haired Sannin to the boat and climbed aboard.

"What took you all so long?" Tsunade asked she walked up behind the two as they sat at the frontal railing of the boat.

"Baa-chan? Why are you on this boat?"

"Well, I have to go back to Konoha and this is the boat that heads back to the mainland, correct?"

"Yeah, but...shouldn't the Hokage have like a private boat or something?" Naruto asked. Tsunade and Jiraya rolled their eyes before pointing at the mast of the boat. Naruto looked at it before raising his head to see the sails emblazoned with the swirl-shaped lead that was Konoha's insignia. Naruto sweatdropped at that.

"Oh." Was all he could reply with. "Wait, but Ero-kyofu I thought we were going on a public boat. Didn't we do that on our way here from when we finished training on Uzushio?"

"Yeah, but now that Hime's here, we can hitch a free ride back to the mainland." He reasoned with his charge.

"Free?" Naruto said the word as if it were a foreign concept to him and Jiraya nodded. "Free. Free is good."

"It always is." Jiraya said as he draped his arm atop his much shorter apprentice.

The boat then took off and left the docks. The salty sea spray wafted through the air as the boat rode the waves back to the mainland and Hi no Kuni. The boat rose and fell as it rode the waves. Naruto sat on the deck, gazing at the waves. His ears twitched as the sounds of his sensei's sandals and his Hokage's high heels clacked loudly against the wooden surface.

"You know, if you could walk louder that would be great." The Kyuubi jinchuriki said sarcastically.

"I could, but I might break the deck if I did that." Tsunade said.

"You'd probably break the whole ship." Jiraya deadpanned. Tsunade shrugged at her fellow Sannin's words. They were true so she couldn't really say anything about it.

Naruto turned to the sensei of his father. "Oi, Ero-kyofu?"

"Hmm?" Jiraya didn't even look at his godson as he focused on the waves.

"So now that I'm a Chunin and we're heading back to the mainland...where do we go now? What are we going to do?" He asked. Tsunade turned to the white haired man at that.

"I'm curious as well. You've been training at Uzu no Kuni for the first few months of this training trip, what's your next move?" The gambling addict asked.

"Well we're going to head to Takigakure no Sato, so in order to do so we will be heading to Yugakure before cutting through the upper sections of Hi no Kuni."

"Takigakure?" The two blondes tilted their heads simultaneously in the exact same manner. Jiraya held back a laugh at how similar the two were. However, while Tsunade remained confused, Naruto's eyes widened before he grinned. Jiraya turned as he saw this happen out of his peripheral vision.

"What's got you so happy?"

"Nothing, it's just that I remember back during the first few months of when I was a genin, Team 7 had a mission to go to Takigakure. It was an escort mission to take the rightful heir from Konoha back to Taki. Shibuki was his name. When we brought him back, his village was undergoing a coup by a few nuke-nin and their leader, Suien, I think his name was, was using the treasure, the Hero's Water to try and help him. Shibuki was a coward and didn't even want to be a leader, but I managed to get it through to him that his father, the previous ruler of Taki, wouldn't have just sat idly by while his village was being attacked and so he got courage and aimed to fight back."

Jiraya and Tsunade listened to the blonde Chunin. Sometimes they wondered just how the hell the brat got into so much trouble.

"So as Shibuki went to fight Suien, he failed because it was his first time fighting and so he went down rather quickly. So then...Sasuke..." He spat out the name with venom and Jiraya chose to ignore this as the blonde continued to talk, "...and I, we fought the bastard and well he was winning. I used Kyuubi's chakra, kicked the crap out of him and everyone went home happy. I was named a hero there apparently because I helped make Shibuki into the man he became that day." Naruto shrugged.

Jiraya and Tsunade stared at Naruto with eyes widened to such a degree it would put owls to shame.

"You really have no idea how much I could have used you during the political crap, Naruto." Tsunade said.

"Nah, I don't want to get involved with politics all that much right now. Doing sideline stuff, campaigning, it all sounds like too much hassle. Do you know how shady political parties can be? It's disgusting." Naruto said.

"Since when do you know politics?" Jiraya and Tsunade asked.

"Since I read the Uzumaki clan scrolls. Explains the history and traditions of the clan. Politics were included in order to understand the Elemental Nations' way of working and it was where they gained the knowledge to set up their own where they select the strongest members of the family to manage the key parts of Uzushiogakure."

"Oh." Was the intelligent reply from the two Sannin.

"So, you're friends with this Shibuki guy now?" Jiraya asked.

"I would believe so, why?" Naruto asked.

"Because, if you are friends it means that you can get us easy access into the village. They say the village is literally hidden by a waterfall, but there are various underwater caverns and you need to swim through the correct one to reach the village."

"Yeah, that's right. If you go through the wrong one, you'll never make it back and you die from drowning." Naruto explained. "But I see what you're saying with respect to the Shibuki thing. I guess my being friends with their leader would make it easy for us to get in without any trouble."

"Exactly. Isn't my apprentice the greatest?" Jiraya laughed. Naruto grinned while Tsunade rolled her eyes. And Jiraya said she and Naruto resembled each other? They should look in the mirror while they smile and then you'd see a resemblance.

"Oh, by the way, Baa-chan?" Naruto spoke, getting Tsunade's attention. "Before I left, Sakura said she was accepted to be your apprentice and that you'd train her to be a medic-nin. I'm going to be honest here, Baa-chan, Sakura was rather...well..."

"She's useless."

"That's the word." Naruto said with a snap of his fingers. "So anyway, how is she doing?"

Tsunade sighed, scratching her head as if she were thinking to find the right words.

"Well honestly Naruto, her chakra control is the only thing getting her by in my training. However, with respect to everything else, she's either average or down right sucks. Her taijutsu sucks, her weapons use is average, her ninjutsu repertoire doesn't expand beyond the academy three, but I'm working on that by teaching her the medical jutsus I know. Her genjutsu skills could be amazing, but I'm not one for genjutsu so I had her do that on her own time. Her physical stamina sucks, her speed is in real need of work and her physical strength is just horrendous...except when she's mad for some reason."

"Ah, yeah for some reason Sakura always got abnormal strength when she was mad. Ero-kyofu, is there something in the female system that just gives them rage induced strength?"

"Why are you asking me this? Tsunade's right there." Jiraya pointed at the large breasted woman.

"I don't know! I just punch the hell out of shit when I'm mad, I never made an effort to research that!"

Naruto and Jiraya sweatdropped at the response. An episode of silence then appeared on the ship as the two Sannin and Naruto gazed out at the open water. Tsunade then decided to go take a nap while Jiraya and Naruto chose to work on a little taijutsu training on the deck.

**Hi no Kuni- Boating Docks**

After a few hours of sailing, the boat had arrived at the mainland and Tsunade, Shizune, Tonton and the Hokage's bodyguards headed off the ship first, followed by the Toad Sannin and his apprentice.

"So I'll see you in two years Baa-chan." Naruto gave a small wave to the Hokage who waved in return.

"Sure thing brat. Jiraya, you've done one hell of a job training him so far, keep it up and I may hit you less." Jiraya chuckled only to suddenly be picked up by his shirt. "But you dare corrupt the boy with your perverted habits and I'll tear you a new one, am I clear?"

"Yes, Tsunade-hime. N-N-No worries." The taller Sannin whimpered and Tsunade gained a satisfied smirk on her face.

"Good." And with that, she rested him back on the ground. "Oh, by the way, here's that mission request I managed to get for you two while Naruto was sleeping after his fight with the Kaguya boy." Tsunade reached into her Hokage robes and pulled out the scroll which had a large capital A on it, meaning it was an A-Rank mission.

"You got us a mission, Ero-kyofu?!" Naruto said with stars in his eyes.

"I did. I thought it would give us something to do while training on our way to Taki. Plus it'll give you a better chance at field work now that you're a Chunin." Jiraya said, pinching the whisker marked jinchuriki.

"You're the best!" Naruto said as he leaped at Jiraya.

"I know, I know." Jiraya said as his chest swelled with pride and awaited the force of his godson's hug, but his eyes widened when Naruto soared past him and slammed into Tsunade's ample bosom.

"You're the best, Baa-chan! To think you'd me a mission to do."

"No problem, brat." Tsunade said as she patted his head. Tsunade then looked up and gave an evil smirk of victory at Jiraya. The white haired man growled in return as he glared at Tsunade's 'I am holier than thou' gaze.

The evil, big boobed demon woman stealing his little godson's affections. Tsunade really was evil to the core.

His glare sent unspoken words towards his fellow Sannin, 'You do realize this means war?'

Tsunade merely flipped him the bird.

"Have a safe trip, Naruto-kun." Shizune said with a wave, Tonton oinking his own farewell wishes to the blonde.

"Thanks nee-chan. Bye Tonton."

The two parties then went their separate ways with Tsunade heading back to Konoha and Jiraya and Naruto heading for Yugagakure.

**Hi no Kuni- Country Roads**

The hyperactive jinchuriki was bouncing with excitement in his mind. He knew he'd be traveling and training, but to receive an A-Rank mission in the middle of it all was like icing on a cake, or extra pork with ramen.

Speaking of ramen, Naruto realized he hadn't had any since he started his training in Uzushio. His stomach growled in agreement, roaring like beast to dine upon the flesh that was noodles soaked with flavoured broth.

"Alright, we'll stop here to eat." Jiraya said taking notice of Naruto's stomach noises. Naruto gave a sigh of relief and a nod of thanks as he and Jiraya stepped off of the dirt path they were walking along to reach Yugakure and settled on the grasslands beside them underneath a large tree. After his clones supplied then with firewood by breaking down a few of the tree's branches, Naruto looked around, sniffing the air before frowning in disappointment.

"Ero-kyofu, what are we going to hunt for though? There's nothing but grass here and from the time we spent walking, I hadn't seen or smelled any animals here, not even a rabbit." Naruto rubbed his stomach with a frown, "A quail would be nice."

"Don't worry. We're not going to be hunting today because you're ol' godfather's finally decided that it's time to eat food on our persons."

Naruto blinked, "WHAT?! YOU MEAN YOU HAD FOOD ON YOU DURING OUR TIME IN UZU AND YOU DIDN'T EVEN USE IT?!"

"Oi Oi Oi! Calm down, Naruto. It was all in the spirit of training you. You learned how to hunt and fend for yourself in the wild didn't you? Those forested areas of Uzu no Kuni were to used to help you with that."

"BULLSHIT! YOU HAD FOOD AND YOU KEPT IT TO YOURSELF!" Naruto yelled, pointing accusingly at his godfather. "I BET YOU EVEN ATE SOME OF IT AFTER I RISKED MY ASS GETTING FOOD FOR YOU!"

Jiraya coughed as he turned away from the jinchuriki. Naruto gaped in shock as he stared at the white haired man with a look of betrayal of his face.

"YOU ATE THE FOOD?!"

"No...I merely...placed it in my stomach for safe keeping."

"I hate you. I hate so very much right now, Ero-kyofu. I can't even trust you to give me food."

"Alright, guess I'll just eat this ramen by myself then." Naruto's eyes widened.

"I bow to you oh mighty Jiraya-sensei, wooer of women, conqueror of evil, ruler of the toad sages of Mount Myoboku!" Naruto said as he bowed down to Jiraya. Jiraya could only laugh at his young charge before reaching into his backpack and took out the scroll that opened to reveal the cup ramen.

"I got promoted to Chunin, Baa-chan got us a mission and you got me ramen. This is the best day EVER!" Naruto laughed as he quickly performed a small scale Katon jutsu to light the firewood and a suiton to apply water for his ramen. He hummed happily as he heated his ramen before digging in with the chopsticks that came with the cup of noodles.

Jiraya smiled with an evil glint in his eyes, mentally pumping his fist in victory.

'Haha, in your face Tsunade. The boy is mine.' Jiraya suddenly began to laugh out loud like an evil mad man and Naruto could only watch with a confused look before returning to his beloved ramen.

"So, Ero-kyofu, what's the mission Baa-chan gave to us?" He asked as he began drinking the broth from the cup. Jiraya took out the A-Ranked mission scroll and unfurled it before scanning through its contents.

"Well it seems that we're heading for the capital. An escort mission. The person who is going to be escorted wishes to have shinobi bodyguards on their way to the capitol."

"Did they say who we're protecting? Where are we meeting them?"

"Hmmm, it's the daimyo's second eldest daughter. She's to meet us in Yugakure and requests Konoha shinobi to be used as her escorts alongside the royal guard that went with her to Yugakure."

"But if she has a royal guard, why does she want shinobi help? Shouldn't the royal guard be enough?" Naruto asked.

"Well I am a Sannin and you are a Sannin's apprentice. Tsunade probably thought since we're already not in the village and on the way to an area close to the capital, that is, Taki, it would make sense to just send us with the mission and get it over with I guess. Plus, Tsunade isn't particularly fond of sending away her shinobi to do missions for the daimyo or his family." Jiraya said as he continued to read the mission details.

"Why not?"

"Do you know of the Twelve Guardian Ninja?" Jiraya asked as he rolled up the scroll, having finished reading it. Naruto immediately shook his head.

"Not really, no."

"Well, they are twelve members from Hi no Kuni, not particularly shinobi from Konoha since monks from the Fire Temple and even highly capable fighters who are non-shinobi are chosen."

"But doesn't that contradict the title of being a Guardian Ninja?" Naruto said with a tilt of his head. Jiraya shrugged before continuing, taking out a cup ramen for himself and applying the same cooking method as Naruto had.

"These members make up up the Twelve Guardian Ninja as I was saying. However, these chosen twelve must remain at the capital as long as they serve the daimyo, carrying all of the daimyo's wishes and protecting him and his family. The reason why Tsunade doesn't like to send out many shinobi for this kind of thing is because she ends up losing pretty good shinobi for a rather long period of time. Sarutobi Asuma, was one of such ninja and Sarutobi-sensei was quite against his son's leaving for the capital. However, the daimyo has a silver tongue."

"Someone was able to negotiate AGAINST Ji-chan? Silver tongue indeed then." Naruto said with a genuinely shocked look.

"Yes, so when we perform this mission. When we arrive at the capital, try not to show off too much as his daughter may want to whisk you away to be one of the guardians and I can tell you, daughters are very persuasive with their father's and tend to get what they want."

"Understood, Ero-kyofu."

Jiraya nodded as he began to finish his own ramen cup. After eating, the two rose to their feet and headed down the trail to Yugakure to meet the daimyo's daughter.

**Yugakure no Sato- Gate**

Standing outside the gate of Yugakure was a young girl around thirteen years old. Her hair was as black as night, same as her seemingly pupil-less eyes. Her hair was tied into a bun shape with two chopstick-like needles impaling it. She was dressed in royal garb which consisted of a dark blue kimono with white outlining the sleeves and lining the bottom. She wore a pair of dark blue sandals and wrapped around her neck was a necklack with a golden charm that was made into the shape of the kanji for 'Fire' clutched within the jaws of a tiger. The symbol of the Daimyo's household.

A platoon of guards, about one dozen strong, surrounded the young daughter of the daimyo as she stood in front of the door of the horse drawn carriage which would serve as her mode of transportation.

"What is taking these shinobi from Konoha so long?" The girl complained with a bored look on her face.

"Well, your father has only sent the request out two days ago, Miu-sama." An armoured guard replied to the young daughter of the daimyo. Miu sighed, her dark, coal coloured eyes stared out beyond the gate of Yugakure.

"But it's been nearly half a day. You would think Konoha shinobi would be extremely quick when going to carry out their missions."

"Miu-sama, you must give the shinobi some credit at least. The border between Yugakure and Hi no Kuni is rather far from Konohagakure no Sato. Even if they are shinobi, it would take at least a day to reach here." The guard explained to his mistress.

"Ah, Miu-sama, I see two figures approaching us from down the road. Perhaps those are the Konoha shinobi." A second guard exclaimed.

Miu squinted as she watched the road and saw the two figures approaching. "Hmmm, one is rather tall, but is other is quite small in comparison."

"Don't worry, Miu-sama. I am sure these shinobi are strong, intelligent and highly respected individuals amongst the shinobi forces of Konoha. You should put more faith into the type of people that Hokage Tsunade-sama sends for your protection." Another guard said.

"OI, GET BACK HERE SO I CAN YOUR ASS!"

"NYAH! THAT'S WHAT YOU GET FOR NOT SHARING THE FOOD ERO-KYOFU!"

"YOU'RE STILL HUNG UP ON THAT?!"

"NEVER GET BETWEEN A MAN AND HIS FOOD!"

The guards looked at each other and sweatdropped.

"I can't help but wonder if to think they should be embarrassed or if to agree with the short one." One guard said. The other guards nodded in agreement while Miu just looked at her royal guard with a raised eyebrow.

When the two figures approached the platoon of guards and Miu, their sweatdrops began to grow larger as they saw the young blonde shinobi running away from the large white haired man whose face was covered in what looked to be mud and grass. At least, they HOPED, that it was just mud and grass and nothing else.

Naruto then skidded to a halt as he stopped directly in front of the royal guard and Miu. The guards immediately stepped in front of Miu, their spears forming a protective X in front of her. As he saw a set of important looking individuals, Naruto's mind quickly pieced together that this was probably their client along with her guards.

Flashing through handsigns, Naruto quickly sent forth a stream of water followed by a gust of wind which nailed Jiraya in the face, cleaning him off the grass and mud and drying him. Jiraya sputtered out what water had gotten in his mouth before glaring at his young Chunin apprentice, halting just before his fist was about smash down upon the blonde's head as he took notice of the company before them.

"You must be Miu-sama and her royal guard I assume." Jiraya stated.

"That we are. And you are?" The guards asked with uneasy tone of voice.

"If you could ignore the previous actions that took place before, I am Jiraya of the Sannin." The Toad Sage said with a smirk as he saw the looks of shock on the guards' faces.

"And this is my apprentice, Uzumaki Naruto." Jiraya patted said apprentice's head, flattening the gravity defying locks of gold. Miu stared at the blonde Chunin with a gaze as if she were judging his life on a set of scales. Naruto shifted his annoyed gaze from his sensei to the young girl and his annoyance became confusion as he noticed her staring.

"What? Is there something on my face?" Naruto asked as he pointed at himself. Miu quickly ducked her head, hiding the blush of embarrassment before lashing out with a slap. Naruto quickly ducked and avoided the barrage of palms that aimed to hit him.

"I WASN'T STARING, BAKA!" She yelled. Naruto quickly leaped back as the guards prevented their mistress from moving forward and injuring her new bodyguard member.

"Violent." Naruto muttered beneath his breath. Jiraya then walked up to Naruto and planted his hand on his shoulder and leaned down to his ear.

"Listen, I have a few contacts here in Yugakure. I'm going to go meet with them and see if maybe anything on Akatsuki surfaced and also check in on some other taboo information not meant for your ears. You'll be escorting the daimyo's daughter by yourself for this mission." He whispered.

"Me alone?" Naruto asked with a slightly nervous tone. An A-ranked mission done by oneself didn't sound very safe. "But..." Jiraya raised a hand, halting Naruto's speech.

"Listen, Naruto. The truth is that I got this mission so that you could get some experience performing a solo mission. I'm not going to hold your hand all the time, I've told you that before. I know you can do this. I believe in you." Jiraya said as he patted his godson on the shoulder. Naruto stared into his godfather's black eyes before sighing with a nod.

"Alright...wait, you sure you're not going to peek on the women in the hot springs? This is the Land of Hot Water after all, hot water equals hot spring and hot spring equal naked women for you to do your 'research' on." Naruto whispered back with a deadpan expression. Jiraya chuckled before ruffling the boy's hair.

"You're a smart kid. Figure it out." Naruto growled as he realized that his sensei was literally ditching him, but he knew his sensei wouldn't joke when it came to Akatsuki matters so there was a form of truth in his words. "Oi, Miu-san."

"Yes, Jiraya-sama?" She acknowledged the powerful shinobi.

"I have some people I need to meet within Yugakure here, so my apprentice here will be watching over you in my stead. Don't worry, he is a highly capable Chunin."

"I will be the judge of that." Miu said with a cold tone. Naruto and Jiraya looked at each other and then back at the black haired noblewoman.

Oh, this girl was going to be a bundle of sugar, spice and everything nice wasn't she?

"He doesn't really look like much. He is rather short and he looks no older than me." Miu chastised the blonde only for her to blink and suddenly Naruto vanished from sight and reappeared right next to her in the centre of her guards' protective square.

"Hmmm, this square is much more spacious than it looks. No wonder you weren't cramped." He said nonchalantly. Miu's eyes widened as her royal guard suddenly reacted to their perimeter being broken through. Naruto vanished into the wind with a Shunshin and reappeared atop the horse cart.

"Dost milady doubt my abilities now?" Naruto winked at her.

"How dare you speak to me in such a manner! I am the daimyo's daughter!"

"You are..." Naruto immediately caught his sensei's harsh gaze and he took a deep breath to calm his tongue. "Listen, Miu-san...I can take a lot of abuse, verbal or physical, no matter what shape or form. But I do not take kindly to people insulting my capabilities as a shinobi. I've seen more blood than you would see in a lifetime in your capital. Trust me...I will do whatever it takes to keep you safe on your journey back to the capital."

Miu looked away, a light pink dusting her cheeks as she blushed beneath the boy's gaze.

"It is Miu-sama. I am the noble daughter of the daimyo and you shall use the proper titles when addressing me." She sighed, "However, your speed does indeed show your capabilities are not mere words from that of Jiraya-sama."

"Thank you. Now, Ero-kyofu, I believe you have your business to attend to." Naruto said with gritted teeth, knowing full well that his sensei planned to leave him alone on the way to the capital.

"Don't call me that in public, brat!" Jiraya growled before walking through the gate to Yugakure. Naruto leaped off of the horse carriage before landing the ground in a crouch.

"So shall we be off, Miu-san?" He asked as he rose to his feet.

"Miu-sama!" She yelled at him as she climbed into her cart.

"Shall we be off...Miu-_sama?" _He said with a forced smile, his eyebrow twitching. Already this girl was getting on his nerves...and five minutes hadn't even passed yet.

'This is gonna be a long escort. I just hope the daimyo is willing to pay me and Ero-kyofu after this.'

**"I think she likes you." **Kamina said.

'...'

**'...' **

'WHAT?!'

Kurama's laughter filled his mind as he began to curse a myriad of words that would make even Tsunade blush.

**Hi no Kuni-Country Roads**

Naruto clasped his hands behind his head as he walked alongside the carriage. The clopping of the horse's hooves on the dirt path and the simultaneous steps of the dozen royal guards made a time signature that led to Naruto beginning to hum a song. The blonde bobbed his head from side to side in time with the steps of man and horse and he continued to hum.

"Stop humming." Miu said with a commanding tone.

Naruto's eye twitched. This felt like the millionth time he was told to stop doing something. First he couldn't kick rocks, then he couldn't step on ants, then he couldn't whistle and now he couldn't even HUM!

"As you wish, Miu-sama." He managed to say without growling.

"Hayato-san?" She called out. One of the three rear guards ran up beside the young girl's carriage window and gave her a small bow as he walked.

"Yes, Miu-sama?"

"How long would it take to reach back to the capital?"

"At this rate, Miu-sama, we should reach back by tomorrow morning."

"Excellent, then would it be possible to pick up the pace then?"

"I would advise against that, Miu-sama."

"And WHY should we not go faster?! I WANT TO GO FASTER!" She screamed childishly.

"Because, the faster you go, the more noise the horses will make as they move faster and thus make YOU more noticeable to attack from any bandit that may be on these paths. Also, it will lead to your guards, who are traveling on foot I might add, becoming extremely tired since they will be required to move faster and thus it would lead to a greater setback to you reaching back to your home." Naruto explained before Hayato could respond. Miu glared at the blonde before turning to Hayato.

"We move faster, now."

"Did you not hear what I just said?!" Naruto yelled.

"You do not talk to me in such a manner, Uzumaki-san. You may be a shinobi, but you are still beneath a noble such as myself. Learn to respect your superiors."

**"I take back what I said. She's a brat." **Kamina said.

'Kamina-sensei...just shut up.' Naruto sad to the Raiju.

**"I would agree with OUR brat. What on earth made you think she liked him?" **Kurama said.

**"I thought she was being tsundere." **

Silence met the Raiju's response.

Naruto's ears twitched as he picked up the rustling of the bushes that ran along the sides of the road as they began to journey closer to the forest roads. With amazing accuracy and precision that could only come from extreme amounts of training and practice, a kunai found its way into Naruto's hand from his pouch and he let it fly through the air. The wind chakra he instinctively added to the blade made it hum as it tore through the air and into the brush, slicing through the bush as if it were made of hot butter.

"What was that?!" One of the side guards who stood with Naruto asked. The carriage stopped and Miu watched her shinobi bodyguard with curiosity as he continued to stare at the bushes. Naruto didn't answer the guard's question as he went into the bushes and retrieved his kunai. However, he found nothing as he pulled the blade from the ground. He sniffed the air and his sensitive sense of smell picked up on the scents of the area.

He gestured to the guards to keep moving and the hooves of the horses continued as the royal guard and Miu moved forth. Naruto remained still for a while, his eyes narrowed.

**Hi no Kuni- Forest**

Within the expanse of greenery that was the forest of the Land of Fire, there lay a large bandit encampment. At least fifty bandits made up the entirety of the population of these cutthroat bastards. The men laughed as they drank and ate, chatting amongst themselves on the forest floor or sleeping within their respective tents.

In the centre of the encampment lay a large white tent, larger than all the others. Within the tent was the leader of the bandits, garbed in all black just like his subordinates. His brown hair was short, but straight. His eyes were a deep green and his physique was large. Broad shoulders, large triceps, bulging biceps, all the makings of a man who depended purely on strength.

Beside the table he sat behind, a single double blades axe was embedded in the earth. The weapon was made of black iron, its curved blades shone by the light of the sun that peeked through the folds of cloth of the tent making the steel glow like silver.

The leader chomped down on a piece of rabbit meat rather noisily, but his meal was interrupted as one of his subordinates ran through the tent's opening. The leader raised a brown eyebrow as he looked at the underling before him.

"Kensei-sama, I have news for you!"

"What is it?"

"Kensei-sama, I was scouting the country roads leading from Yugakure. The young daughter of the daimyo, Miu, she is heading our way. Though I guess it would have been understood she is heading our way since the only way to reach the capital is through the forest paths." The subordinate said. The leader, now named Kensei, munched much slower on his rabbit meat as he contemplated what to do.

"She is the daimyo's daughter. She would fetch a hefty price in exchange for her survival from the daimyo." Kensei chuckled. "How heavily is she guarded?"

"One dozen guards and there was one boy, probably in his teens, but he wore a Chunin vest and had the hitai-ate of Konoha."

The leader snorted, "I knew the daimyo would hire shinobi as guards as a precautionary measure, but only ONE Chunin? And a boy at that. Looks like we'll be gettin' an easy kill today. Tell the men to prepare themselves, we're goin' huntin'."

"Yes, Kensei-sama."

It took the rest of the day to reach the forest border. By the time the sun had set, they were already deep into the brush that the trees began to cast large shadows.

"Uzumaki-san, being the shinobi here, you have camped out in the wilderness before. Where do you suggest we set up camp?" Hayato asked. Naruto sniffed the air before applying chakra to his feet and ran up the side of a tree. From his new vantage point, he surveyed the area before spotting a large area that was covered only by grass and was large enough to house the carriage, horses and whatnot.

"Move forward, approximately half a mile. There's a clearing there that would be good to set up camp." Naruto informed the Hayato as he dropped down from his perch. Hayato nodded and gave the orders to the other guards and the horses carried the carriage to the intended location.

"Hayato-san, explain something to me." Naruto said. The head of Miu's royal guard looked at the shorter male with a questioning look. "Why is it that you ask for advice on camping out? If it took at least a day to reach from the capital to Yugakure then should you not have been capable of setting up encampments in forested areas?"

"Well Uzumaki-san, I have watched over Miu-sama since she was very young and I was her personal bodyguard. I watched over her throughout the entirety of the time she lived within the capital. However, because she is of noble blood she was never left outside of the capital. Given that this is she is now in her teenage years, her father, the daimyo, saw fit that it was time for Miu-sama to be able to venture out of the walls of the capital and see some other areas outside of it."

"Hmm, sounds like a typical teenage girl to head to the closest area to home on her first night out." Naruto mused.

"Exactly, but it was actually much quicker to reach Yugakure from the capital since we actually had three dozen of us guarding her."

"Three dozen?! You mean you lost two dozen men on the way to Yugakure?!" Naruto excalimed. Hayato nodded in shame.

"I am deeply sorry for not telling you, but I assumed that you would be aware of the risks of watching over Miu-sama for this escort mission since we labelled it as an A-Rank."

"No, no. It's not that, I was very well aware that we may run into some bandits or maybe some stupid people who think they could get lucky by robbing the horse carriage, but to lose two dozen men in a single day...just what the hell were you guys fighting?!"

"A large bandit camp. They were seventy strong and they knew their way around the forests so they had field advantage along with numbers. We managed to take down at least twenty or so before we managed to escape with Miu-sama, but by the time we cleared the forests, we had already lost too many of our own."

Naruto's eyes narrowed and his eyes flash crimson as his rage spiked.

"Well, you did the right thing aiming to protecting Miu-san rather than trying to take on the bandit horde. However, don't worry I will make sure to keep Miu-san safe when we make camp."

"You have my deepest thanks, Uzumaki-san. However, I think Miu-sama may have heard you say her name, she's glaring at you right now." Naruto turned away from Hayato and looked at the raven haired girl.

"Yes, Miu-sama?" Naruto questioned the girl with a smirk. Miu's eyes narrowed, but with a huff she turned away from the blonde.

**"Are you sure she's not being tsundere?" **Kamina asked.

**"SHUT UP/**SHUT UP!' Naruto and Kurama roared at the Raiju.

Once the camp was made, Miu's sleeping tent was set up and all twelve guards formed the perimeter around her tent while Naruto lay in the trees above, scanning the area for any sign of this bandit horde Hayato had mentioned to him earlier. Footsteps landed beside him and Naruto instantly whipped out a kunai, but paused at his potential victim's throat when he saw it was merely one of his clones.

"Woah there boss. I know you're hyped up and stuff, but careful with that thing."

"Sorry. Anyway, did you see anything?" Naruto asked.

"If I did, I would have dispelled instantly and sent you the information. However, you did dispatch at least fifty of us to scan the forests, don't you think it's weird that we haven't seen any of these bandits, if there were any?" The Kage Bunshin asked with a tilt of its head.

"True, it is strange that we haven't found anything yet, but Ero-kyofu always said paranoia was a ninja's friend most of the time."

"Ain't that the truth." The clone muttered. "Well, I'm gonna go back and take another look. You good here, boss?" Naruto nodded and his clone vanished in a swirl of wind and spark of lightning. Seems the **Raiju Arc: Shunshin **was working much more decently now.

A few hours passed, the moonlight shone down from between the leaves of the forest canopy and Naruto watched down below as he saw some of the guards switch out for shifts to watch over Miu. The daimyo's daughter was sleeping soundly from what he could tell. A gentle night breeze blew through the air and navigated through Naruto's. The heir to the Uzumaki and Namikaze names took a deep inhalation, breathing in the wind.

His eyes snapped open as he did so.

'Something's not right.' He thought. He sniffed the air once more. Trees, dirt, leaves, insects...and human.

He had already remembered the scent of the armour the royal guards always seemed to wear so it blended with their scents, but these were dirty, foul and stank of blood.

"Hayato-san!" Naruto yelled down to the iron armoured man. The head captain turned to see Naruto drop down with a panicked look on his face and Hayato quickly responded.

"PROTECT MIU-SAMA!" He ordered. The eleven guards immediately formed an even tighter circle around the daimyo's daughter's tent. Naruto cursed as his eyes became slitted like Kurama's. He quickly flashed through handsigns and released a pulse of chakra.

**"Fuuinjutsu: Nankan!" **A large barrier suddenly formed out of thin air as seals that Naruto had drawn upon the trees surrounding the camp glowed with blue light. The barrier then released a dull THUNK as the sound of an object impacting with it. Turning in the direction of the sound, Naruto and Hayato stared at the black garbed bandit, but then their eyes shifted to the sides and suddenly they found themselves encircled by the bandits. Twenty-five bandits had them surrounded and only a single barrier lay between them and their target, Miu.

Naruto quickly formed a handsign and dispelled all of his clones that he had sent out earlier and their memories rushed back to him. A small migraine formed, but he quickly got over it as he shifted his focus from the pain to the current problem at hand.

"Uzumaki-san, they outnumber us two to one. I suggest you make your clones and drive them away." Hayato said as he gripped his spear tightly.

"I would too, but I'm currently supplying my chakra to keep the barrier up. I can't divert the flow otherwise the whole sealing array will break due to being so delicate and it doesn't help that these guys are banging on it. I may have a large amount of chakra to spare, but I'm not gonna keep this up all night. Do something to get them away, stab them!" Naruto yelled.

"But wouldn't your barrier block our attacks?!" Hayato yelled back.

"The barrier is design to let things within it, out, and also to keep things from outside from getting in. Now shut up, and go stab the hell out of those bastards!"

Hayato nodded and with a battle cry, he and two other guards ran forth and stabbed forth through the barrier and imapled a bandit through the chest. The bandit coughed up blood, staining the glowing blue barrier crimson before he died. Another got his throat slit and a third was hit by a side swing and before he knew it, his head was sent soaring through the air like a comet with a tail of blood.

The bandits immediately backed up as they saw three of their own fall to fangs of steel. The bandits snarled at the blonde shinobi as if they were wolves and retreated back into the darkness of the forest.

"Is it over?" One guard asked. The question was answered as a tiny beep was heard. The sound may have been small, but to Naruto's ears, it was positively deafening.

"Oh no. HIT THE DECK!" Hayato and the other eleven guards all gazed in shock as the blue barrier suddenly glowed that much brighter, but the bright flash of orange and yellow marked the setting off explosive charges that had been set off around the sealing barrier's perimeter. Naruto concentrated deeply as he pumped his chakra into keeping the barrier stable and prevent in from breaking apart.

When the explosions died down, the earth stopped shaking and Naruto stood on slightly wobbly knees. He put a lot of chakra into the barrier and to deflect the force of a high number of explosions that all occurred simultaneously with enough force to have blown the entire area into a burning ash land was no doubt a bit draining on the jinchuriki's chakra reserves.

However, the sound of what appeared like glass shattering met Naruto's ears.

"Kuso, they broke one of the trees where I drew one of the seals. The whole thing is ruined!" Naruto cursed. The blonde panted as he wiped the sweat from his brow. The barrier suddenly gained cracks and vanished into thin air as the sound of glass shattering met everyone's ears. There was a period of silence and suddenly the roar of the twenty five bandits was heard as they tore through the brush and into the encampment.

Hayato and the other eleven members of the royal guard quickly retaliated and made haste to counter the bandits. Naruto growled as he took out his ninjato and it hummed as it became coated with wind chakra. One bandit came down with a knife in hand, but Naruto easily batted it away before impaling his opponent through the throat. In one clean motion, he spun, slicing the man's neck open causing his body to bleed out heavily before going with the momentum of his spin and went into an upward slice that cleaved a man's face in two. With a kick, he sent the bandit through the air and crashing into three others.

Two bandits quickly took out one of the royal guards as they slit his throat and stabbed him through the stomach, piercing the battered armour. Shoving the man aside, the two bandits entered Miu's tent and looked down at the shivering lump that lay beneath the covers. The two bandits chuckled to themselves before ripping off the purple sheets, but their smiles quickly became looks of shock as they stared at the laughing form of one Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto.

"Gotcha." Was all the laughing blonde stated before he snapped his fingers.

**Hi no Kuni- Other part of the Forest**

BOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The loud explosion echoed throughout the atmosphere as a tower of black smoke and red flame tore through the air.

"See, I told you that the decoy would work." Naruto grinned down at Miu as he held her bridal style, leaping from tree to tree as he carried her.

"Shut up." The daimyo's daughter pouted cutely, shifting uncomfortably in Naruto's arms.

"Oi, stop squirming. I'm gonna drop you if you keep doing that!"

"You threaten me?!"

"IT'S NOT A THREAT, DOOFUS! IT'S A FACT!"

"YOU INSULT ME TOO?! HAYATO-SAN!" Miu called out to her head guard, but she received no aid. Her eyebrow raised as she glanced back at her head guard.

"As you can see, Hayato-san is very busy at the moment." Naruto turned to the twelve clones that each carried a member of the royal guard, one of which was Hayato.

"I apologize for Uzumaki-san's rudeness, but he does have a point, Miu-sama. If you keep doing that, he may drop you in the process." Hayato said, sweatdropping as Miu glared at him for not 'saving her' from Naruto.

"You guys okay back there?" Naruto asked them.

"We're fine, Uzumaki-san." Hayato respond along with the rest of his fellow guards. "I must admit, that was quite a well thought out plan."

"Classic misdirection. Create transformed clones and then have us go in one direction while the clones go in the other, make the clones make more noise and whatnot to attract more attention to them and voila. We escape scot-free." Naruto said with a cheeky grin. "Thank you, thank you. Please hold your applause."

Miu snorted in amusement and Naruto's eyes widened when he heard her.

"Did you just laugh?"

"No." Her amused look immediately returning to stoic and emotionless.

"And I thought you hated me, but you're really just a little girl underneath that fancy robe, aren't ya?" Naruto chuckled. Miu blushed heavily in embarrassment.

"I do hate you. You insult me and threaten to drop me, not to mention I lost my favourite horse carriage and tent in the process of your 'brilliant plan'." Miu complained. Naruto rolled his eyes.

"Oh, don't be like that. You know you love me." He said with a joking tone.

"BAKA!" He was hit upside the head as Miu lashed out with a kick. However, while she was satisfied with making violence based contact with the blonde Chunin's body, Miu had actually forgotten the fact that she was not on flat ground and so her kick resulted in Naruto's grip on her slipping and she fell.

"MIU-SAMA!" Hayato and his guards yelled out in alarm.

"Stupid girl. I told her not to squirm." Naruto frowned before channeling chakra into his feet as he landed on a branch. His forward momentum allows him to fall forward and he now hung upside-down on the branch's underside before he bent his knees and he took off towards his descending client. Miu screamed her head off as she fell.

Her screams continued as she curled tightly into a ball, but she stopped when she realized she hadn't hit the ground yet. Her coal black eyes opened and she glanced around and found herself once more in the arms of her shinobi bodyguard.

"I told you not to squirm, Miu-san. Stop being stupid and acting so spoiled." Naruto gave the young girl a harsh stare, but she wasn't really paying attention to that as she was too busy staring at him. Apparently Naruto was positioned directly behind the moon so his face was outline by a silvery glow and his eyes seemed to pop, making them rather attractive. His blonde locks wavered slightly in the night breeze.

"Wow." She blushed lightly.

"Huh?" Naruto tilted his head in confusion. "Wow, what?"

"I WASN'T STARING!" She yelled as she lashed out with a kick again. However, Naruto dodged this one as he leaped back up the side of the trees to rejoin his clones and their passengers.

"I told you, stop kicking me! Do you WANT to fall?!" Miu immediately halted in her action to kick him again and frowned. She sighed before adjusting herself properly and wrapped her hands around his neck so that she wouldn't be able to slip again.

"Fine, but I'm not listening to you simply because you told me to." She said with her blush intensifying slightly. Naruto noticed her reddening facial features, but blamed it on the cold of the night air. However, as soon as Naruto and his clones had cleared the forest, they quickly froze as they came face-to-face with the remaining faction of the bandits.

"What?! That's impossible, I just blew you guys up!" Naruto yelled.

"That was only some of my forces sent there. My scouts found your little diversion, but since we were unsure as to which was the actual set of people I decided to go with my gut and meet you out here at the edge of the forest. Looks like my gut was right after all." The large muscular man at the front of the bandits said.

"I'm guessing you're their leader?" Naruto asked.

"Aye, that I am. Name's Kensei." The brown haired man said as he twirled his double bladed battle axe. "Now if you would be so kind as to hand over the girl in your arms there, we'll be on our way."

Naruto clutched the girl tighter to his body and Miu stared in fear as she looked into the fierce green eyes of the enemy leader.

"Well listen here, Kensei. You're not touching Miu-san at all." Naruto jumped back as his twelve clones rested the royal guards on the ground and all twenty four battle ready men prepared for battle as the original Naruto hung back with Miu. Miu hid behind Naruto's taller visage, clutching his sleeve tightly.

"Don't worry, Miu-san." The blonde glanced back and his blue eyes met her black ones. "No one's going to hurt you. Hayato-san and I will do whatever it takes to keep you safe." Miu gulped and nodded.

Naruto's clones and the royal guards tore through the untrained forces of the bandit horde. However, as the numbers dropped to below fifteen, the bandits began to group together and team up on their enemies. One guard raised his spear to take on two bandits, but as he blocked the sword of one, the other had landed on the ground, falling short intentionally in order to slip past his guard and stab the armoured guardian in his throat. Blood leaked through his mouth and neck wound and he fell to the ground dead.

As the guard fell, a Naruto clone came through and sliced the air with his tanto. **"Uzumaki-ryu: Kazegiri!" **A crescent of wind literally tore through the two bandits and sliced them in two. Another four bandits leaped at their adversaries, but the royal guards held up their spears and caught three in midair, their spears impaling them through the stomachs. The fourth however got bifurcated as Hayato swung his spear in an upward arc. The two halves fell to the ground in a pile of flesh and blood.

One bandit aimed for one of the royal guards behind their backs, but one clone took the fall and blocked the attack. When the clone vanished as smoke, the guard immediately spun and swung his spear, stabbing the tip into the assailant's stomach before kicking him off of the blade.

"Alright, I'm done playing around." Hayato said as he watched the remaining eight. He charged forth and stabbed one in the stomach before twisting to the side so that his spear sliced the man open. Going with the momentum of his twist, Hayato twirled his spear and swung it into another's skull, cracking it with the side of the wooden handle. Throwing his spear forth, it struck through two more like they were kebabs and afterwards, he ran and performed a pole vault with the thrown spear before kicking another bandit in the jaw sending him to the ground.

Hayato then withdrew his spear from the two he had impaled upon it before killing off the remainder of the grunt forces. Kensei remained silent as he had watched his remaining faction fall at the hands of the Royal Guard and Naruto. With a sigh, Kensei withdrew his axe from the ground.

"You know, this could have been so much easier if you'd just given me the girl." Kensei said. Suddenly, green eyes snapped open, blazing with battle lust and soon Kensei took off at speeds which seemed unlikely for a man of his size. Though muscular, Naruto didn't think the man would have been able to move quickly since the muscle would have slowed the bandit leader down.

Apparently we was wrong.

With a roar, Kensei swung his axe and tore through the armour of one guard like it was made of hot butter before spinning and slamming the flat of his axe against the side of another's head. Three of Naruto's Kage Bunshins leaped at their adversary with their wind chakra enhanced tanto's drawn, but Kensei moved like as if he were an agile feline. He struck the hand of one clone, causing it to drop its cloned blade before it was struck with a kick to the jaw. Kensei then jumped and went into a backflip before crashing down his massive body atop the second clone. The third didn't even have time to react as the axe sliced it into a smoke cloud.

Kensei chuckled as he twirled his axe nonchalantly. "Who's next?"

The remainder of the Naruto clones rushed forth, aiming to surround the large man and strike from all sides. However, Kensei spun as if he were a twister of steel and suddenly there was a flash of silver and a ring of smoke surrounded Kensei as the Kage Bunshins were dispelled by his strikes.

"FOR MIU-SAMA!" The remaining guards yelled.

"NO, DON'T!" Hayato told his subordinate guards, but the head captain's words fell on deaf ears as the men's battle cries drowned him out. Kensei watched as the armoured men charged towards him with the intent to put him down. However, one's spear was grabbed from his hands and stabbed into his face. Another got his arm sliced off by the axe before getting slashed across the stomach. The axe was like a flash of black and silver beneath the light of the moon and Hayato and Naruto were soon to be only ones left as Kensei tore through the guards and Naruto's clones.

Miu cowered behind Naruto still and Naruto quickly drew his tanto and formed another barrage of clones in order to see if there was a pattern in the man's attacks as he fought. However, when the clones went down, Naruto's eyes widened as he saw that Kensei had no style of attack when he struck forth with the axe. He just swung it comfortably in whatever way it seemed to suit him in the current situation.

'This is dangerous. I can't use too many clones as I had used up quite a bit of chakra when I made the decoy clones, these clones and actually supplying chakra to my clone so that it could keep that barrier fuuinjutsu active during that ambush before. This man is a fighting genius with the battle axe and it doesn't help that I have Hayato-san and Miu-san to protect as well.'

**"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" **Thirty clones puffed into existence. Each one armed to the teeth as they drew forth kunai and shuriken. Hurling the metal weapons at Kensei, they aimed to strike him down quickly. However, Kensei chuckled darkly before before swinging the large, double bladed weapon in a wide arc that deflected all of the smaller weapons, peppering the dirt with the pointy objects.

Hayato charged forth and aimed to stab Kensei in the stomach, but he was deflected by the brown haired man's upward swing, putting him out in the open.

"You are rather skilled, both of you it seems. But I am much better than any of you. Weapons cannot harm me, for I am Kensei the Repulsor!" Kensei roared. Naruto's eyes widened as he heard the man shout out his name and title. Naruto's mind flashed to the information he had read in the bingo book Jiraya had him read.

'Kensei the Repulsor. An ex-Iwa nin with the kekkai genkai for **Jiton. **Is a B-ranked nuke-nin and is capable of wielding nearly any type of weaponry and with **Jiton,** cannot be harmed by weaponry as he repels them all with the magnetic forces.' Naruto recalled the information. He shook his head as he heard the sounds of spear against axe and he saw Hayato get repulsed once more as Kensei deflected it. However, Naruto noticed that when Kensei swung the axe to deflect it, the axe never touched the spear head.

'So he truly does use magnetic forces to repel the metal parts.' Naruto thought. Hayato gave a battle cry and swung at Kensei's torso, but the spear was deflected again, sending it upwards and leaving the guard captain open to attack.

"You have skill, but it is time you die!" Kensei roared as he brought down his weapon.

CLANG!

Kensei's eyes widened as he saw Naruto gritting his teeth in effort to hold back the axe's blow with his tanto. Sparks flew forth from the friction between the two weapons. Kensei growled as he watched the blonde Chunin.

"You annoying little worm. I will have the girl!" Kensei yelled before Naruto's blade was repelled, but as Naruto and his sword were repelled, Kensei's eyes widened as he saw the thin film of chakra surrounding Naruto's own. "NO!" He exclaimed. Naruto's blade released the humming and buzzing sounds of wind chakra and lightning chakra application, respectively. The sharp, high frequency vibrating blade sliced off a large portion of the left half of the double bladed axe and Kensei could only growl in rage. Kensei kicked Hayato in the stomach before spinning and slashing the head captain of Miu's guard horizontally across the chest. Hayato was then punched in the face and floored by an elbow strike to the skull.

Once Hayato lay on the ground, Kensei turned away to attack Naruto.

A forceful downward swing was avoided and Naruto went in for a stab to the ribs. However, Kensei repelled it with his axe before slammed a knee into Naruto's face before spinning on his heel to build up momentum before crashing a devastating roundhouse kick to the chest of the blonde Chunin. Naruto flew through the air towards the trees of the forest he had escaped through earlier, but he flipped in midair and planted his feet firmly against the side of the bark. Chakra flowed through his legs as he pushed off, snapping the bark and zoomed towards Kensei.

The axe wielder's eyes widened as he found Naruto's tanto buried into his stomach. The man coughed up a glob of blood, but Naruto hadn't really hit anything truly vital since the blonde aiming to mainly cause damage instead of going for the kill. He punched Naruto down to the ground by landing the crushing blow to the blue eyed boy's skull. A small dust cloud formed and Naruto coughed slightly before he rolled to the side as he felt an object descend towards him.

Kensei had removed Naruto's tanto from his bleeding stomach and aimed to use it against him. The man now held two weapons and he began to slice away at Naruto with seemingly expert level usage. Naruto quickly formed a Kage Bunshin to take the blow aimed at him from the tanto before rolling between Kensei's legs when the downward, vertical slice from the axe came upon him. After getting through Kensei's legs, Naruto popped up and lashed out with a kick, nailing the brown haired **Jiton **user in the spine.

The green eyed man stumbled forward, but he reacted quickly and performed a back slice with the tanto that sliced through Naruto's three clones that aimed to kill the dangerous nuke-nin with their triple Rasengan attack. However, with them being dispelled by Kensei's attack, the attack had failed and Naruto was quickly forced back when he began to flip, jump and twist to avoid the strikes aimed to decapitate or dismember him. However, Naruto was caught on his lower leg as a quick slash from his own tanto sent him to one knee. Kensei then smirked as he raised the axe high above his head at the defenseless Naruto however, Naruto grinned and suddenly exploded in a cloud of smoke.

**"RASENGAN!" **Naruto dove down from above, the spiraling orb of destruction in his hand. However, his eyes widened as Kensei crossed his axe and tanto in front of his body and took the attack head on. Naruto grunted in effort, but he knew he would fail. His tanto had been reinforced with seals to make it unbreakable to the point that not even the **Rasengan **was capable of breaking it.

The Rasengan exploded and both combatants flew away from each other. Naruto skidded on the ground before coming to a stop and Kensei stood tall, the weapons he held having taken the brunt of the impact.

However, Kensei's eyes widened when suddenly he felt something go through his back and out of his chest.

Having aimed to take advantage of Kensei's focus on Naruto, the wounded Hayato panted as he rose to his feet, using his spear as a makeshift crutch. The armoured head guard clutched his spear tightly and with a loud battle cry, he charged at the muscular bandit with all the speed he could muster. The spear stabbed into the larger man's body and struck into his back, going through and through as it tore through the right lung and out of the chest. Kensei coughed up a large amount of blood. However, as Hayato smirked in victory, his eyes widened when he saw the bandit raised his arm before slicing the spearhead off cleanly with the remainder of his left axe blade. With his body no longer being held in place by Hayato's impalement, the green eyed nuke-nin twisted before kicking Hayato in the chest sending him stumbling backwards and with a simple twist of his hand, the unharmed right side of the axe was swung upwards and carved a deep gash into Hayato's body. Blood flew forth from the deep wound and Miu gaped in horror as she saw her friend and guard bleed.

"HAYATOOOO!"

The young girl screamed and cried out to the armour covered man, but he did not move. Naruto rose up to his feet and his eyes widened as he saw Hayato fall. His body coated with the crimson liquid of life. Naruto stared at Hayato's body, then at the crying and screaming Miu...and finally at the cause of all this. Kensei the Repulsor would die tonight.

Naruto released a bestial roar, his eyes flashing crimson as he climbed to his feet. Kensei's and Miu's eyes widened as they saw the wind kick up around Naruto's form as he stood back to his feet.

"KENSEEEEEI!" Naruto roared. A pulse of chakra exited his mouth as he roared and Kensei could gape in shock as he was hit full force by the chakra pulse roar. The attack sent him soaring through the air and made him lose his grip on his weapons. Naruto however, caught his tanto as he sped towards the flying nuke-nin and in a blur of speed, appeared in front of the soaring man. A harsh rising kick sent Kensei skyward before Naruto leaped after his foe. A barrage of punches and kicks sent the two higher into the air before Naruto grabbed onto the larger man's shoulder and used them to hoist himself up higher than his opponent before he brought down a devastating axe kick upon Kensei.

Kensei fell to earth, but Naruto fell after him. Sheathing his tanto, Naruto's body sparked with lightning and the wind swirled around his body as he activated the bloodline of the Raiju he held.

**"RAIJU ARC: SORASHIN!" **Naruto reared back his fist and brought it down with enough force to cause a crater as he and Kensei met the ground. Naruto's fist didn't even stop at the skin as the wind and lightning tore through Kensei's body, ripping through his stomach and crushing the part of his spine Naruto had made contact with. The ground shook as if an earthquake were taking place and Miu watched in awe at the majesty of the attack as a pulse of lightning and wave of wind shattered the earth with the force of Naruto's attack.

Naruto panted as he rose to his feet and stared at his bloodied arm as he removed it from Kensei's body. Naruto steeled his nerves, but he still shuddered once he realized he had just killed somebody. Naruto then walked away from the body and saw Miu, who was previously watching him, shift her gaze back to Hayato as she was standing over Hayato's body, shaking uncontrollably. When he reached the girl's location, he could only frown when he saw her. He didn't know what to do. Having no parents, he never knew how to deal with any kind of situation and was capable of winging it, but for this kind of thing...he really had no idea what to do. Consoling was not one of his strong suits.

"Miu-san...I..." Naruto felt the words stick in his throat when he saw her red eyes. Miu gulped before rising to her feet and walking over to Naruto. She stared at the ground and sniffled loudly in front of him.

"H-H-He said th-that h-h-he wouldn't b-be able to make it. H-He's dead, b-but he said to keep living for his sake." She stuttered out. "A-And he said th-that you...you shouldn't b-blame yourself and that I shouldn't blame you, N-N-Naruto, for him dying." Miu's fists clenched tightly.

"BUT WHO ELSE AM I SUPPOSED TO BLAME?! YOU WERE THE SHINOBI, WHY COULDN'T YOU HELP HIM?!" Naruto looked down at the ground and he was suddenly caught off guard when Miu ran into his chest and clutched his shirt. "WHY?! WHY?! HAYATOOOOOO!"

Naruto gulped as he slowly wrapped his arms around the daimyo's daughter. "Miu-san...I...I'm sorry. I'm sorry I failed to protect your precious person."

Miu continued to cry for a few more hours before she fell asleep in Naruto's arms. The blonde jinchuriki formed a clone and had it seal the bodies of Hayato and the other royal guards into separate scrolls so as to deliver them to the daimyo to be buried. Naruto then rose up to his feet and trudged along the path that lead towards the capital, clutching the sleeping Miu tightly. His clone following dutifully behind its creator.

**The Next Day**

**Hi no Kuni- Capital City Entrance**

Naruto sighed as he walked up to the entrance of the capital city where a numerous amount of guards and the daimyo himself awaited him and Miu.

"Oh my. Shinobi-san, you're covered in blood. Is my daughter alright?" The Daimyo asked as he looked over his daughter's sleeping form and Naruto's blood covered one.

"Yes, Daimyo-sama. Though..." The Kage Bunshin Naruto carried with him, held out the scroll where Miu's guards' bodies were stored. "These are Miu-san's royal guards. The one dozen that had originally come with her." The Daimyo's face gained a look of shock.

"One dozen? But I had originally sent out three dozen!"

"Hayato-san said that two were lost on the Yugakure. These last twelve, Hayato-san included...they died in combat protecting Miu-san."

"Oh my." The Daimyo's mouth transformed into a frown, but his eyes widened as he saw the young man that held his daughter suddenly begin to shake.

"Shinobi-san?"

Naruto fell to his knees clutching Miu to his body, "Daimyo-sama, I wish to beg for your forgiveness!" The noble commander of Hi no Kuni stared in shock at the blonde Chunin.

"For what?" The Daimyo asked.

"I was tasked with protecting your daughter's convoy and I lost all of her royal guard members. I truly am sorry. I failed the mission...I failed as an apprentice of Jiraya of the Sannin...I..." Naruto wished to personify his rage and regret at being unable to protect Hayato and the other royal guards, but he held it all back. His body shook as if it were about to burst.

"Shinobi-san." The Daimyo muttered.

The elderly looking man bent down and patted Naruto on the shoulder. "The mission was to protect my daughter was it not?"

Naruto nodded. "Yes, Daimyo-sama."

"Then, you have not failed the mission. And besides, this was an A-Ranked mission, shinobi-san. Even if you are the apprentice of a Sannin and a Chunin, you cannot go through any mission and not have casualties within them in some shape or form."

Naruto didn't respond as he merely stood there. The Daimyo had one of the guards take his daughter from Naruto's arms and those arms suddenly fell limply to his sides. As this happened, a plume of smoke appeared next to Naruto and Jiraya stood next to his apprentice with a small smile.

"Yo, brat! I'm...woah." The white haired man looked at his apprentice's blood covered body, namely his right arm which was covered up to the elbow in it. Jiraya turned around and saw the Daimyo standing there with a worried look on his face as he watched Naruto.

"Jiraya-sama, your charge is rather tired and has suffered a bit of an ordeal when protecting my daughter. I suggest you let him rest and cleanse himself here in the capital before you head off to wherever it is you may be going." The Daimyo suggested.

"I think that would be best, thank you, Daimyo-sama." The Toad Sennin nodded to the robe garbed man. Jiraya picked up the frozen blonde since it seemed he was incapable of moving on his own, and followed the Daimyo through the capital to reach the royal baths allowed for the Daimyo and his family as well as cordially invited guests. Thanking the nobleman once more, Jiraya took the seemingly comatose blonde into the baths and helped to wash him free of the blood that covered his body. After that was done, he watched as Naruto slowly put his clothes back.

When it was done, Naruto and Jiraya sat within the guest bedroom the Daimyo had within his mansion.

Jiraya's head snapped down at his young charge, "Naruto, Naruto look at me." Jiraya knelt down to the blonde's height so that he could look him in the eyes.

"Ero-kyofu?" Naruto asked as if he were talking to a ghost.

"Yes, Naruto it's me. It's Ero-kyofu, your stupid, perverted godfather who was too stupid to realize that I shouldn't have kept you alone on an A-Rank mission." Jiraya tried to joke with his student, but he got no reply from the melancholy shinobi. "Naruto, look at me." He grabbed Naruto's face and forced the blonde to look at him. "What happened out there?"

Naruto remained silent before looking at his godfather with a seemingly dead look in his eyes.

"I let people die, sensei. I could have saved them, maybe if I had used more clones to fight, maybe if I had been able to asses the severity of the situation when I fought Kensei the Repulsor I would have been able to save Hayato-san and the others and Miu-san wouldn't have been in this state." Jiraya's eyes widened when he heard Naruto mention the B-Rank nuke-nin from Iwagakure. Though Naruto was strong, it was practically impossible for a recently turned Chunin, no matter what, to be able to take on a highly skilled shinobi like Kensei without suffering some casualties.

"Naruto, it's okay. People die, it happens."

"BUT I COULD HAVE..."

"We all wish we could save everyone we are required to protect Naruto...but we can't. I know how you feel, I really do. I felt the same way you did when your father died fighting the Kyuubi all those years ago, but you learn to live with them. They'll help make you emotionally stronger and they will help you to be able to give you the drive to make you strive to protect the people close to you with an even greater amount of vigour. So don't worry, Naruto. You didn't fail the mission and you didn't fail as my apprentice. You could never fail me, you understand?" Jiraya held the boy's shoulder tightly, but he never noticed as Naruto's blue eyes met his own dark ones and Naruto's body shook before he dove at his godfather, clutching the man's vest tightly.

"I...I understand." Naruto said before he finally broke down and he cried his frustrations out. His anger, his self-disappointment, his self-loathing, all of it came pouring out and Jiraya could only rub his godson's back as comfort for him.

**(A/N: K.D- And that's a wrap folks. This is a big chapter I have in order to make up for the lack of updating that took place, but I have been very busy with examinations lately so there hasn't really been much to do so far in terms of writing because of what I had to do.**

**Now that I am back though, I put a lot of thought into this chapter. The reason why I thought this kind of chapter would be good in which I show Naruto to be emotional and weak in a sense, is because it helps to show you guys that Naruto, despite being the main character we all know and love, not invincible. Sure he can do a lot, but truth be told, Naruto has never really had any of his comrades die before him and given the fact that it was during an important mission such as this shows just how much Naruto still has to do in order to become the badass he is to become upon returning to Konoha after training. **

**I think I may have done the fluctuation with Miu and Naruto a bit much, but I've never been good with doing character interactions in this kind of manner before so it's one of my first times trying out the tsundere kind of interaction. PM me or say in your review how you think I did and don't flame.**

**Hope you all enjoyed this chapter. MAY THE SUMMER VACATION BEGIN WITH EPICNESS!) **

**Hello all, it is I; the great Kotei no Seiryuu! A.K.A: Divinedragon!. Now I got some news for you all, for those who are following my other story J.O.A. After the next chapter I am making, me and Kitsune will be doing our special so expect that around early, or mid july. Other news is that this story will be on a brief break and may come back in august, but don't be sad my fellow readers, I am making a new story, a Young Justice x Naruto Crossover, hopefully I cans tart this weekend and be done by next weekend or a little after. Otherwise aside from that folks, that's all and expect a lot of updates in the future. **

_**Translations:**_

_**Tenton- Heaven Style/Heaven Release**_

_**Kaze Shunshin no Jutsu- Wind Body Flicker Technique**_

_**Kage Bunshin no Jutsu- Shadow Clone Technique**_

_**Raiju Arc: Shunshin- Raiju Arc: Body Flicker**_

_**Fuuinjutsu: Sankan- Sealing Technique: Barrier**_

_**Uzumaki-ryu: Kazegiri- Uzumaki Style: Wind Cutter**_

_**Jiton- Magnet Release**_

_**Rasengan- Spiraling Chakra Sphere**_

_**Raiju Arc: Sorashin- Raiju Arc: Skyquake**_

_**Hi no Kuni- Land of Fire**_

_**Yugakure- Village Hidden in Hot Water**_


End file.
